A Captive Viper
by Nikolaides
Summary: A Viper is taken down and taken captive by a team including Sniper Corporal 'Zero' on a mission to destroy an Advent radio transmitter. After Dr. Tygan refuses to experiment on a live subject, everyone, the Commander included, is unsure of what to do with their new hostage.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: I haven't written much on this site I know, but please let me know what you think of this piece if you read it, I would appreciate any pointers to my writing as well

This story is minorly inspired by 'Imperator 2 you', with their written piece 'The X-com Viper'. It's truly an interesting read, and I'd thoroughly suggest having a look at their pieces.

Also a mention that I have written some of my story due to RealityMachina's mod on the steam workshop for X-Com 2, I've enjoyed using this mod when I play through.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

(Squaddie 'Zero', 0200 EST 3/29/2035, location unknown)

"Alright, Squaddie! You're up!" A loud, female, rough voice called into my dorm room. "Your next mission is in 10. Be ready or we're leaving without you!"

I jumped out of bed, startled by the quick wake up call, not fully orientated yet as I stumbled towards the shared bathroom. I heard groaning from the three others in my dorm, clearly also woken up by the voice, unsurprisingly. I had been recruited by X-com a few weeks ago, and have lived with the three other members in my room, all male, since. I had been to the G.T.S, the Guerrilla Tactics School, where I had been ordered to train as a Sniper class for X-com by Central Officer Bradford. While I had long since earned my rank as Squaddie due to my extensive training, I had never gone on a mission, but I still managed to get given a nickname regardless. 'Zero' was my callsign by my dorm mates, each time they said it, they laughed. As in been on zero missions, and had zero kills. Those were the most common jokes. But I like the name, even if it was meant to be at my expense.

I glanced down at my phone, the time was 02:00, but unfortunately, this meant very little to me. As I went to sleep at 21:00, when we were positioned at our headquarters in Eastern America, we could have traveled halfway across the world to get on the mission, so as far as I knew it could be daytime out there. I opened the steel tap, not waiting for the water to run as I put my hands into the sink, splashing water back up into my face, the ice cold freezing my skin, as I shook the water off my hands, and rushed back out to put on some clothes, changing out of my white vest and loose tracksuits and into our X-com uniform, consisting of military-style green fatigues, and black all-purpose boots. I grabbed my dull, worn red neckerchief, tying it around my neck as I left the dorm, storming down the halls quickly. I was not going to be late for my first mission.

I had my reasons for joining X-com, some more trivial than others, but it has opened me to the lies of the Advent administration. It made my blood simmer inside me every time I thought about how they have deceived the entirety of humanity, using our own media against us, buttering us up with their 'gene therapy clinics'. I always thought the argument was against altering our genetic makeup, or stopping genetic screening, but once it was all installed by Advent, it was the latest fad. It's a shame what I ended up learning about them, I almost went to one once, and I sure am glad I didn't. I know a lot of friends who were undergoing long 'trial' periods with the clinics. I at least now know what that meant now.

I rounded the final corner to the squad briefing room, bursting through the door to find 3 other soldiers staring at the entrance I made, before turning back away. I rushed over to the workbenches, picking up the list of items that I was to take and equipped each one. Kevlar vest, check, frag grenade, check, sniper rifle, check, and my pistol, check. I went through the routine checks of the weapons on the bench, checking for malfunctions, any loose fittings, anything that would fault the gun. Seeing none, I rejoined with the other three in my squad. I only knew one of them, the girl who called me out of my bed; Brick. She was tall, with a short, messy crew cut, her brown hair matching the color of her hazel eyes. Brick looked tough, was tough, and always had a huge grin plastered on her face. I thoroughly believe she would have a relationship with her heavy gun, by the amount she talked about it. I hadn't had the chance to modify any of my weapons, but her Canon was fitted with an increased magazine, and a 4x scope, along with a bipod, all of which she attached herself.

"Zero! Glad you could make it!" She grinned, slapping me on the back with her free hand, as the other held her weapon of choice. Strapped to her back I could also see the grenade launcher, which looked comically similar to something you would see off of a game. "Don't be too scared kiddo, this should be a quick mission. Just listen to the commander, and you'll do fine" She winked confidently at me, her Scottish accent inexplicably more noticeable as she whispered. The other two members of the squad today were both Specialists. Which left us without a Ranger. I had watched some of the Commanders' battles previously, and in ones he took a Sniper, he would often bring a Ranger to 'scout' up ahead, as it were, and call the shots. I suppose that was for the Snipers with a lot more experience and better aim than I. The two unknowns were both Sergeants, I could see it by the stripes they wore on their armor, while Brick was already a Captain.

"Alright, introductions, guys, this is Jay. Jay Walker" She grinned, turning me to face the other two soldiers. They both turned around from their conversation, both holding flat expressions as they looked at me. After a brief moment, the Specialist wearing a black cap, with a nice amount of stubble on his face offered out his hand for me to shake.

"Nice to meet you," He said gruffly. I could feel Brick tighten her grip on my shoulder, as I shook his hand before she burst out laughing again, causing two odd looks from the Specialists.

"Hahaha! I can't believe that worked!" She shouted heartily. "Get it, 'Jay Walker'? Jaywalker? No, no just me, alright" She smiled, earning a slight chuckle from the one who didn't shake my hand.

"But in all seriousness, this is Zero. Zero, these guys are called Venom, and Angel. Guess who's who?" She laughed playfully.

"Uh…I guess he's Angel then" I said, motioning to the guy who shook my hand. The other Specialist had no facial hair, like me, but had wavy, dirty blonde hair, compared to my slightly messy short length hair, which was a chestnut brown color.

"Hmmph, lucky guess" She nudged me in the back, as we moved towards the small ship the Avenger kept in its hangar: The Skyranger. The ship's door opened for us to board, with Brick leading the way, followed by the two Specialists, with me at the back, as I made a last check for all my stuff. The door raised up behind me, as I took my seat on the ship, next to Brick. The comms crackled slightly before the voice of Central came over the speakers.

" _Alright Squad, we're doing a supply raid today. Reports tell us that the transport is lightly manned, and should be an easy hit. Expect advent patrols, with maybe a couple of MECs there. Zero, we're hoping you can get a bit of experience in the field, be sure to follow the orders_ " He addressed, as the ship shuddered under take off. My stomach turned slightly as the Skyranger began to accelerate towards our destination.

" _The transport has already been hit by resistance members, so they'll be alert, but you can still get the drop on them if you stay in the shadows_ "

Brick grinned towards the two supports again, unease settling across Angel's face again.

"Alright, guys, you know the drill. Stay behind me and keep me covered, and this should be no problem" She clarified, even though the commander would be telling her what to do. But she was probably correct, the two Specialists could keep her defense up with their Gremlins - small combat drones that accompanied each specialist - as they pushed forwards. This is what the Commander usually did, alternating the shield protocol between the two supports, providing a strong front line.

It wasn't long before we reached our arrival point, the rest of the journey occupied by Brick trying to start conversations, or talking about her gun, or both. The door opened, with four ropes leading down to the ground. The sky was a bright blue, confirming my thoughts about it not being the right time, it must be early in the morning All three of them ran off the ramp, jumping on a rope, as I ran behind them, but I stopped at the edge of the ramp, looking down. I immediately felt nauseous, immediately regretting hesitation, as I reached for a rope, just managing to grab one within my reach, and promptly slid down, meeting the others on the ground, and unholstering my weapon.

"Geez, what took you so long?" Angel commented scathingly, turning away from me, clearly not wanting an answer. I shrugged his comment away, awaiting my orders.

As we move through the grassy area alongside the train tracks, our boots collecting the dew on the blade tips as we moved, we finally reached the halted train, with smoke rising up from further along. Either the train itself or a fire, though I'm guessing the former is more likely.

As we moved up towards the train, the commander ordered me into a watch post, giving me some elevated ground, just as Brick was nearing the first patrol.

" _Alright, Zero, let's get you your first confirmed kill. Go for the Advent Captain, the one in red. Brick, Venom, on overwatch_ " The orders came out, as I began to line up my shot. The Advent troops looked like humans, clad in full body armor, hiding the top half of their face, their armor had small plates over the chest, arms, and legs, to provide extra protection, but that wouldn't save them from a round from my sniper rifle. The Captains looked similar to the Troopers, except they wore a bright red, making them all the easier to identify. Their helmets were slightly larger, also covering the majority of their face, leaving only their mouth and lower jaw visible. They wore a cape, often, as well, possibly to signify their standing. Estimating the distance between us, I quickly turned the notch on my scope, as I lined up the Officer in my sights,

"Nighty-night..." I breathed through the comms, as I took my shot, piercing the helmet of the Captain and bringing him down in one. The two soldiers accompanying the Captain froze for a second, before pointing in my direction, and running for cover. Before either of them could make it, they were gunned down by Brick and Venom respectively, falling to the ground before they could reach safety.

" _Nice job. Brick; move up, Specialists; on her flanks. Zero; stay put_ " The earpiece crackled, as the others moved up. It wasn't long at all before they encountered a second patrol

"Enemy spotted!" Angel called through the comms. I pre-emptively notched up my scope again to compensate for distance, looking down the sights at an Advent Stun Lancer, Sectoid, and Captain. The Sectoids had changed over the years, the best I could describe them as was thin, pink, gaunt Aliens, with the body that looked human, but their face was rounded, smooth, had two large eyes, and a permanent grimace, the entirety of their teeth showing. The stun lancers wore a slightly sleeker version of the troopers outfits, but were most identifiable by the red stun sword they wore on their backs. To think they used to be used for crowd control...

" _Grenade their covers_!" The commander ordered through the comms. Without hesitation, Brick whipped the launcher from her back, sending a frag grenade into the middle of the three.

"Cover is blown Commander, negative hit on the Sectoid" She responded, updating him on the situation.

"Angel, engage aid protocol and take a shot at the captain. Venom, shoot the stun lancer!" He ordered. Brick crouched behind a low bench, as the gremlin flew over to her, emitting a light in front of her that seemed to distort the air around it, making her harder to hit. The shots rang out one after another, I could see them before the sound reached my ears, as the Captain ducked behind cover to dodge the bullets, while the Lancer took the bullets from the rifle, briefly staggering, but rebalancing himself, he managed to only get grazed.

" _Zero! Take out that captain!_ " The call came. I aimed towards the tree, as the Captain began to lean out to peek around his high cover. I took the shot, as it ringed out, the sound reverberating off of the buildings near me, I watched the bullet catch the Captain in the middle of the helmet, as he slumped down into the grass. The Lancer dashed towards Brick, but she ducked out of the way of the blade, while the Sectoid ran out of my sight.

" _Watch that Sectoid!"_ The commander called, as I saw a flash of purple flash across the battlefield. Angel gripped their head, screaming into the comms. "Get out of my head!" He screamed, whipping around and shooting to his right. I had heard stories of the power of the Sectoid's Psionic ability, but I just witnessed first-hand one of my own turn around and shoot their ally because of it. Venom collapsed to the floor, gurgling as the shots pierced him. Brick glanced back, breaking away from the Lancer, and grabbing Angel.

"Snap back into it! Use your stabilizer protocol, now!" She yelled, but It fell on deaf ears as Angel stared, pale-faced at the body of his comrade, staining the green grass a crimson red.

"Angel!" Brick slapped him across the face as she tried to wake him up.

" _Zero, provide cover fire to Brick"_ I heard the electronic voice in my ear, as I took aim, leading my target as the Lancer dashed towards Brick again. My bullet nicked the Lancer in the chest, but it was enough to kill him, as the lancer collapsed to the floor. I managed to spot the Sectoid taking up a flanking position, aiming his gun at Brick. I whipped my sniper around, taking the shot, as it struck the Sectoid on the side of the head, causing it to stagger, but the bullet did not kill.

"I've got an empty mag!" I called out, taking more bullets out of my vest, but I could see the Sectoid re-aiming at Brick.

" _Watch the flanks!"_ The commander called, as the beam struck Brick on the side, as she staggered down onto one knee.

"Angel, the stabilizer protocol!" Brick yelled pushing Angel down behind cover, and finding some herself, grasping her side as she leaned against a tree. Already, the Sectoid was repositioning, clearly trying to get away from me. I lead my target again, taking another shot, but I saw the ground kick up just behind the Sectoid a second later. It had got behind full cover and was fully aware of me. It was unlikely for me to get a shot here. Thankfully, I watched Angel coming to his senses, his drone flying over to Venom, before flying to Brick to heal her.

" _Brick, remove his cover again!"_ The call came from command, as the wall the Sectoid had ducked behind was decimated, leaving me an easy shot, as I felled my target, third time lucky.

"Down for the count" I confirmed in communications, as I could see Brick visibly deflate in relief in my scope.

" _Alright, no other advent forces the area. Bring all squad members to evac pronto"_ The commander ordered, a brief crackle of static signifying him signing off the channel. I headed over to regroup, Brick picking Venom up on her shoulders. She looked slightly disheartened as we headed to evac, Angel holding his head low.

"I'm sorry guys…I…I don't know what came over me…" He sighed, putting his face in his hand.

Brick shook her head at him and reached over to give him a pat on the back.

"It's alright, dude, shit happens. We got through alright, so don't worry" She comforted.

"I could have killed him!" He looked up, tears welling in his eyes. "So fucking stupid!" He sulked, scuffing the ground heavily with his shoe as he kicked at it, the evac zone just up ahead. I felt like giving comfort, but with my lower rank, and his already possible distaste for me, I could only imagine that it would do a lot worse than I thought it would.

"Also, Zero, thanks for the cover" She smiled as she turned around to me. I gave her a brief two-fingered salute as I smiled back. But her smile wasn't one of her warm smiles, I could still sense how upset she was, even if she hid it.

Boarding again onto the Skyranger, the ride was silent on the way home, not even Brick's usual chatter broke the quiet. I almost fell back asleep, until I was jolted back into consciousness by my ears popping as the pressure increased again as we reached the Avenger.

" _Welcome back squad. Zero, report to me in the briefing room for promotion, the rest of you get some rest_ " The voice of Bradford rang over the hangar area as we left. Brick laid Venom down on a stretcher brought by one of the scientists here, to take to the infirmary, before giving me a small salute, and heading off there herself. I know most people here probably saw on the commander's overview what had happened, so I kind of felt bad for Angel. He'd be getting stick for this maybe for the entire time he stays here.

After laying down all of my weaponry and armor back on its stand, I headed back towards the briefing room, where a man with worn eyes, scars on his face, and some stubble stood in front of me. Central Officer Bradford. The man who had kept X-com alive for the past 20 years, organizing the resistance movements against Advent and the Elders, and was crucial to the operation to recover the commander from the stasis suit. I wish I had been at X-com to see the operation, but alas I was recruited a while after the commander was rescued. Now Bradford stood in front of me, his dulled eyes piercing me through with his authority. He did not waste any time as he started speaking to me the second I walked through the door.

"Zero, on behalf of X-com, I'm promoting you to the rank of corporal, due to how you handled the pressure suddenly thrust upon you, and that you picked up three confirmed kills. Head down to the G.T.S to receive your new training, long overwatch. Also, here," He paused for a second, offering a new badge to me, my first stripes. "To signify your new position. You are hereby given permission to modify your weapon as you see fit, to the stocks available to you. This does not involve any of the advanced attachments we have stored" He finished, his straight expression almost impossible to read. He held out his hand for me to shake, as I reached to shake it back, he gripped me tightly, and shook firmly, I automatically tried to grip him a little harder in response, but all I could feel was my hand getting crushed. As he finally relieved my hand, he strode past me back towards the command center, leaving me to nurse my hand quickly, before I headed back to my dorm.

I opened the door to my room, my other dorm mates still asleep, so I shut it behind me quietly, heading over to my bunk, re-putting on my vest and tracksuits, and climbed up the ladder to the top bunk, wary and cringing at the creaking of each step I took up there, meeting relief as I finally lay down on my bed, pulling the covers over me, providing a much needed warmth to my body, as my eyes quickly became leaden, as I struggled to keep them open for much longer.

* * *

(Viper Unit 19201648, 1000 EST 3/29/2035, location: City A135)

I patrolled the outskirts of the building I had been sent to protect. My Matriarch had ordered me here, as my next guard station, along with another of my species, who was sent directly by Advent, so probably a clone, in that case. I had been on these patrols for a large majority of my time on this planet, the one its inhabitants affectionately call Earth. I was and had always been a guard, but I've never had to raise my weapon before. Except in training of course. But while I'd have called myself a guard, Advent had a different name for it. 'Peacekeepers', we were called, I think largely to gain the support of the human populace here.

I held my beam rifle across my body, pointing it downwards towards the ground slightly, as we were instructed, as to provide little fear to the humans. The building I was going around looked quite small, and discrete, the walls painted a bland white on the outside, with unremarkable wooden doors providing two entrances. Otherwise, it opened into two small rooms, one filled with chairs, and a table, the second contained the reason we were patrolling here. A large transmitter that acted to transfer vast quantities of information across advent. I was told briefly that it was located here due to the main facility for information transfer being destroyed by a terrorist cell. But there was no way that they would know to come here. As with every other patrol job I had been on before, I was just going to be patrolling around the building for four weeks straight, telling more curious humans to stay back, before they rotated the guards again. As far as I could tell, it was only me, the other Viper, and 4 troopers, 2 assigned to each of us, that were guarding the building. Mindless drones, all 5 of them.

As I rounded the next corner, I saw two humans walking up rapidly to the building, I quickly darted in between them and the building, making sure to keep my rifle down, as I spoke to them in their own language. 'English' they called it, despite that they were humans, and living on a continent they called 'America', by their laws of the language, surely that would make the language they spoke American? I never understood. Regardless, I always found it hard to adapt to their speech, but I was gradually getting better, only having to pause occasionally to pronounce some words correctly. That and to remember not to roll my 's's, as was a typical stereotype for my species.

"Keep your distance, this building is protected by Advent" I hissed gently at them, as I reached my height, trying to adjust how much of my tail I was resting on, so as not to tower completely above them. A technique that put them slightly less on edge than when I didn't attempt to be 'gentle' with them, in my experience. How fragile.

"Sorry, we were just trying to have a quick look inside through the window" The smaller male responded, raising both hands in front of him. I still had to learn all the gestures they made. I dropped my rifle to my side in one hand, as I raised my other in the air in a similar fashion to how I had seen the speaker address everyone on the media broadcasts.

"Civilians are restricted to enter the…enclosed area of this building, as well as the immediate surrounding area," I motioned towards the concrete standings that surrounded the building they were about to cross. They proceeded to look at each other briefly but did not head off in any other direction.

"So, what's in there? Are you allowed to tell us?" The larger male asked, his voice a bit lower than the smaller male beside him. I couldn't help but notice that the smaller male was constantly glancing down away from my eyes. I had been told previously in a conversation I was having with a female of their species, that it was because of the 'human' part of our bodies. A side effect of having a small amount of human DNA genetically implanted into our species, it gave us a bigger body size and increased strength, as well as a couple of other 'advantages' as my Matriarch put it.

"No, I am not… obliged to," I responded to the first. "If you want more information I would suggest contacting your local governor" before turning to the second. "Can I help you, sir?" I asked dryly, as he snapped his eyes back up to mine.

"No, no! Sorry, I didn't mean to!" He defended himself immediately. I couldn't help but snicker slightly, inwardly of course. "It's just, I haven't really seen many Vipers before, and not one so close" He spluttered. "Would it be possible to take a picture?" He whipped out a small device, that I knew as a 'phone', from his pocket, tapping furiously on it.

I hesitated for a second, unsure of what to say. I glanced towards the two troopers with me, both stood there holding their weapons in silence. Drones. I turned back towards the human, returning to holding my plasma rifle in both hands, and across my body. "Of course, but only one" I hissed, raising myself to my normal height, as he leveled his phone at me. For a brief moment, a small white light immitted from the top of the phone, then flashed again, indicating the photo had been taken. As soon as he turned to look at his phone, I started retracting to my previous lower height, when I heard a sharp whizz past my head, as the wall behind me made a snapping noise under the pressure of something. I looked back towards the wall, a singular bullet now lodged in it. A terrorist attack. The two troopers I was with immediately dashed for cover, as more shots rang out from in front of me, downing one of them immediately.

"Get down!" I hissed to the two civilians in front of me, their mouths open, as I pushed them behind of the concrete standings, taking cover myself behind the base of a lamp post, as I peeked out to observe what was happening. I spotted five humans in civilian gear wielding weapons, one sniping at a longer range, while the other four advanced through the alley leading towards the building. Thankfully not the rumored X-com personnel, but rather 5 people dressed in civilian gear with no armor, so probably normal resistance members. I poked my beam rifle around the corner, shooting at the closest human, who was hiding behind a crate. The shot connected, sending the human sprawling backward, as she cried out.

"Target eliminated" I relayed to the other trooper, hiding back behind my cover. I saw the other squad rounding the building now, to assist us. As I began to turn around, I saw a small projectile flying through the air past me. "Grenade!" I called out quickly, as it rolled towards the squad coming around the building, coming to rest just before the wall. The other Viper darted out of the way, as her two troopers took the blast, lifeless on the floor. The grenade also destroyed the wall, revealing the transmitter. Elders damn it, now I would have to deal with the two civilians too. I turned around the see them, one frightened and still cowering behind the cover, the other raising his phone to take pictures of me, and now the transmitter. I quickly used my tongue to take away the phone from his hands, dropping it onto the floor next to me. I saw a look of protest on his face before he returned to behind the cover.

I reached around the lamp post, shooting my tongue out towards one that had climbed onto the roof, grappling him towards me, and I quickly wrapped him up within my coil, tightening my grip until I saw him gasping for air, I could feel his bones between my scales as I crushed him, a superior sense of touch also granted to us by our gene mixing. The second Viper took up a more advanced position, firing at the soldiers, taking a third out. Return fire came from their position, some of the bullets whizzing past me, but I saw my sister take some of the bullets, recoiling under their effect, green blood oozing from between the scales on her side, indicating she had been shot. Her hood quivered erratically, but she maintained her composure regardless. She kept low to the floor, winding in on her own tail to reduce her height. The bullets had struck her side, missing the limited armor that Advent gave us, it only covered our chest, and didn't even go much lower than that. But it did help us maintain our flexibility. On the back, our armor had a small line of protection from the tip of our hood to the main piece, and extended down our back further, providing us, arguably, with more protection from our back than our front. I was a harder target for them to hit, as they had less of me to aim for, they certainly weren't going to aim at the human in my grasp, who was still trying to struggle away from my grasp. I was still partially behind the lamp post base, providing me enough coverage.

"They are flanking me!" The Viper called out, as a human ran at her, slicing her in half with a sword, before running directly at me. The trooper next to me peeked out of his cover, shooting down the approaching human waving the sword before a single bullet cracked through his helmet. The Sniper.

I was enough behind the lamp post, that the full cover was giving me enough protection from the Sniper, he would have to reposition to get a good shot at me. I waited for a couple of seconds longer, as the human in my grasp stopped struggling, I released him as he lay down on the floor. His chest started to move very shallowly, indicating he was still alive, just unconscious. I peeked my head around the cover, hearing another crack, as a bullet flew past me again, hitting the desk in the room behind. I took my chance to look around the corner, taking a shot at him with my beam rifle, as the insurgent fell as my shot connected with his chest.

I scanned the area for any more hostiles, seeing none, as I head back inside towards the transmitter room, keeping an eye on the two humans as I motioned for them to stay. Inside the transmitter room, there was a radio, crackling as a voice tried to get through. I picked up the receiving end, speaking immediately into it.

"This is Unit 19201648, five hostile targets identified and neutralized, one held captive…..Requesting reinforcements and a transport to pick up the captive, and two civilians needing a medical check for possible trauma. Lockdown of larger area required due to exposure of transmitter" I spoke into the radio, as I heard a voice respond back to me.

"Affirmative. ETA 5 minutes" The radio responded, as I hung up the receiving end, heading back over to the civilians. My heart was beating heavy beneath my chest, and I still felt completely on edge, but entirely alive. I had never fired my weapon at someone else before, and I still felt equally terrified and exhilarated. I took my cover again by the lamp post, scanning for any more hostiles, as the two humans sat on the concrete standing, and started talking to me.

"That…was terrifying" The larger male spoke, his voice trembling slightly.

"Are you kidding me? That was awesome!" The smaller male called out. "She saved us, man!" He headed over towards me, extending his arm. I believe it was a gesture they call a 'handshake'. I offered my hand back to him, as he gripped my hand quite lightly, and shook it. "Thank you ever so much" he smiled at me. I stifled a smile back, but instead 'nodded' towards him. Another human gesture I had picked up. It usually was a placeholder for a confirmation, but could also be used as an acknowledgment, it was a little strange still to me, how one gesture can be translated in different ways to them.

"It is my duty, and my pleasure" I responded, releasing my hand from his. The taller male also chimed in expressing his thanks to me, to which I again nodded to acknowledge. The smaller one went over to pick up his phone, again tapping quickly on it, before holding it up to me.

"Look, I caught some great photos of you…I mean before you stole my phone from me" He smiled, as I narrowed my eyes to look at the photos he was showing me, of me in cover firing my beam rifle at the enemy, and another of me behind the cover completely. I admit, the small narcissistic side of me enjoyed these photos, particularly how the light reflected off of my amber scales and made them look more golden, but they weren't supposed to be held by the public. I suppose it's not my problem now, but the troopers' problem, once they come to collect them.

"I hope you enjoy those photos" I hissed at him. "As you have heard, I have reported the both of you to our medical professionals. It should just be a precautionary check to make sure neither of you are suffering any side effects of having witnessed a battle, I'm sure it will take about 10 minutes once you arrive" I assured, seeing slightly annoyed faces from the both of them. I'm sure they didn't want to be airlifted to some center when they had other plans, but it was not of my concern. I watched as three transports touched down nearby, several Troopers, Captains, and Sectoids filtered out from the ships. The Captains immediately ordered the troopers around in their funny language, as the troopers picked up the bodies of both the terrorists and our allies, putting them onto the ship. Before they came over to take the alive human, I heard the very faint sound of a voice coming from him. I leaned down to his throat but realized it was not him, but instead a small, white device I caught a glimpse of in his ear. I carefully removed it, putting it up to the side of my head so I could hear it.

" _Johnson, come in! Repeat, Johnson, status!"_ The call came in. My eyes widened with the realization. They have been communicating with another, which means that there was going to be a second attack here possibly…except for this time, X-com might get involved, if they had caught sight of the transmitter, which is entirely possible now with the big gaping hole in the wall.

"'Johnson' is dead" I whispered into the small white device, which immediately buzzed back with " _Fuck, turn it off!"_ as the voices were replaced with a dull white noise. They had turned it off. And there weren't going to be any rescue attempts for their lost operative at least if they thought he was dead. I expected there was to be a battle again tomorrow, seeing as we had a large important bundle of information due to be transmitted at that point, so X-com would attack then if they were going to at all. We would have to secure a larger perimeter anyway to get the public to avoid looking at the transmitter device, but I had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen tomorrow.

* * *

(Corporal 'Zero', 1800 EST 3/29/2035, location: near City A135)

I had spent most of my day, since waking up earlier this morning, with my dorm mates, as a reward for having done my first mission. Two of them were Rangers, while the other was another Sniper. The Ranger who slept underneath me had the callsign Vandal, while the Ranger who slept on the opposite side was called Samurai, and the Sniper called Deadbolt. They had all been here before I arrived, and I know that Vandal and Deadbolt had been on many missions together, employing the strategy I had mentioned before, of a concealed Ranger scouting up ahead to give the Sniper a target. They were all fairly close to each other regardless, and spent most of their time aboard the avenger together, but not so much with me. I think I replaced somebody also close to them, so they were always a little cold to me, but they were warming up, slowly.

Today had largely consisted of going to the gym, and going down to the soldier's rec room, which contained a few scrappy pool tables, the wood tarnished and the green felt scuffed, but useable, a TV with a DVD player, and a few other items to entertain others in their downtime. But for the last hour, after quizzing me about my mission and congratulating me on getting three kills in my first mission, they began recounting their favorite stories from their previous missions.

"My best one, by far has got to be with you, Vandal" Deadbolt announced, breaking into his story. "We were going to defend a transmitter, and you immediately raced off towards the transmitter, getting there so quickly. I was just stood at the back on top of the building, and you kept calling out the targets for me to pick off, while the other two defended my position rather than yours. They never got anywhere near that transmitter!"

"And you never missed a shot" Vandal grinned back, before teasing him. "Shame you don't do that on every mission"

"Hey, I hit more than you!" He retorted, folding his arms.

"Actually, I believe that it is our dear Zero with the highest accuracy percentile now, with 80%, if he was indeed telling the truth of his mission" Samurai chimed in. "Shotguns tend to be a little harder to hit with anyway"

"Speak for yourself, I use a rifle, my aim is good, I'm just not asked to attack much," Vandal chuckled. "a number of times I've had the flank on a target but not engaged is just too damn high!"

I couldn't help but smile as they bantered amongst each other, arguing about who had the coolest kill, who had the quickest mission, who had the highest kill count, and so on. I would have loved to watch them argue all day, but I had scheduled to go to the GTS in order to receive my training and so headed over to do so. On my way over, I passed by the command center, looking at the large holographic globe there. There was a red dot on the map they were looking and pointing at, on the east coast of America, and after a few nods from the crew within the room, I felt the entire ship shudder, as it took off again. I suppose I at least knew where we were going this time.

For 3 hours, I was practicing in the GTS with the help of another Sniper on the roster, who was giving me tips on how to hold the rifle, how to regulate my breathing properly, but largely going over the important parts of going on long overwatch. I suppose, in my last mission, I had to make two of these kinds of shots, missing the one on the Sectoid. He said with my amount of training, the shot I hit should have been very low percentile, which I wasn't sure whether he was complimenting my ability to aim at a moving target prior to training, or whether he was calling it a lucky shot. Regardless, I came out of the session having learned this new ability a lot better, and left for the Cafeteria, seeing my dorm mates already sat down, so after grabbing my food, I joined them, to hear them talking about why they joined X-com.

"Well, my dad was in the initial X-com project, from what I heard, he gave them hell" Vandal chirped, his right leg resting on top of his left as he sat down. "I suppose that's why I joined when I had the first opportunity"

"That's kind of cool. My dad was only part of the resistance, I grew up near the west coast with them. I always wanted to join up here" Deadbolt added his section, earning a respectful nod from Vandal.

"I can respect that a whole lot. I know some people join just to get a chance to shoot or slice up some aliens" he said, glancing over to Samurai, who punched him on the arm playfully.

"What about you, Zero? Why'd you join?" Deadbolt asked, leaning over the table to interrupt the two Rangers.

"Me? Uh…" I glanced around the three of them, looking inquisitively at me as I hesitated. "I've got a number of reasons…I guess" I shrugged. By their expressions, I could tell they were going to make me list a few.

"Ok…so I came across footage of a resistance camp being taken out by advent troops. I was shown it by a friend, who I think had ties with the resistance. Anyway, the footage showed X-com flying down, and neutralizing the attackers, protecting the citizens. I was enamored by it, a cause to protect humans. I had always been told they were a cause to disrupt the peace between us and the elders. So, I thought it was pretty cool. But my friend who showed me the footage went missing the next day. And they somehow figured out she had shown me, but I managed to find out they were hunting for me in time, so I could escape the city, out of fear for my life. I'd heard of people going missing, but I thought it was just lies perpetuated by the 'terrorists', as they called X-com. I didn't really have anywhere to go, so I tried to find the resistance cell on the east coast of America, where I finally came across documents describing the invasion from 20 years ago, or ascension as Advent would have put it. Any other files I had read on it were directly made by the Advent administration. The more I looked at other media, the more I realized how brainwashed everyone had been, how well Advent was at pulling wool over an entire population's eyes. It wasn't long before I wanted to make a difference, and not just be a sitting duck. I wanted to be someone who jumped down to rescue those from Advent, and reclaim what was ours." I smiled inwardly, as I watched the others dryly look at me.

"That's quite boring" Samurai stated almost immediately, as Vandal chuckled.

"Yes, but it's still a decent reason mate. Still boring" He winked at me after defending me, earning a laugh from both Deadbolt and Samurai. I rolled my eyes at them, as I finished my food, which consisted today of some rather tasteless pasta, with a minute amount of cheese to go with it. The one thing I didn't envy was their food supplies, it was rare to get a decent meal on board the Avenger. What I'd give for another Advent burger, or just a normal meal.

" _Zero, Brick, Goblin, and Alphabet, report to briefing room_ " The message came over the intercom in the cafeteria, with a bit of static accompanying it. I saw Brick stand up from the opposite side of the hall, her eyes immediately grasping mine, before I saw a big, infectious smile split across her face immediately.

"Guess I'm off again. Wish me luck" I grinned at the others.

"Break a leg, Zero" Deadbolt commented, as Samurai chipped in afterward.

"Literally"

I scoffed, as I picked up my empty tray, placing it in a large pile at the exit of the hall, before catching up to Brick on the way down.

"Hey little dude" She greeted, as I matched her pace. "Excited for your second mission?"

"You know it" I smiled back. Her side looked no different from normal, meaning either the Kevlar protected her enough or it had fully healed in the time being. "You know what we're doing?

"Maybe, I heard it's something to do with the latest Advent network news report. It was a report about how a heroic peacekeeper defended two civilians from harm as their home was assaulted by insurgents. They said that the insurgents killed 5 peacekeepers, who laid down their lives to protect the citizens of Alpha one three five. Bunch of bull. Chances are that there were no civs, and second, there's something in that building. The resistance cell contacted us and let us know that they found a transmitter of some sort in there, but couldn't take it out. Shen and Tygan monitored the Advent network and noticed that that transmitter is a major relay in their network, so we're to hit it. The other two joining us are a Ranger and a Specialist, so an all-round squad here" She informed me, pushing through the door to the armory, and loading herself up, as I did the same. I could feel myself be quicker this time, beating Brick to the briefing room.

" _Good, you're all here. Alright, the target is a transmission station based in city A135, we've not got much intel on this op, so be careful. You do have a time limit to destroy the transmission data, so get in, destroy it, and neutralize any aliens in the area. Understood? Alright, get on board, drop zone ETA 5 minutes, and you'll have 10 minutes to get there, and take out the transmitter. Good luck"_

"Yes, sir!" We called out in unison as we boarded. The Skyranger quickly set off, and so we were in transit. Brick again occupied the time, chatting with Alphabet, our Specialist, and the Ranger Goblin about their previous missions. Turns out they'd almost been on as many as Brick, but not quite had the same success as her, so weren't up to her rank. I felt slightly warm, as Brick continued to fill the silence with her chatter, it was much better than the alternative.

" _Drop zone in 20 seconds, get yourselves ready_ " The Pilot called from the cockpit. I double checked my Kevlar vest, and sniper rifle, before standing up, ready to jump out. As the door opened, Brick and Goblin both went first, grabbing onto the ropes without any problem. I told myself that this time I was just going to run for it, and not stop. I jumped out with Alphabet, grasping one of the ropes, as I slid down, meeting the others down the bottom. We had landed at the edge of the city, having been told that our target was North from our position, but I couldn't see any civilians anywhere, usually, there were a couple in more populated areas.

" _Alright squad, it doesn't seem like we've attracted any attention, you're hidden for now. Stick to the shadows upon approach. And get moving. 9 minutes left"_ We heard central over the comms, as we pushed forward, the Ranger and Brick at the front, while I took up the rear with Alphabet, hand on my pistol as we moved quickly.

"Guard patrol, left side" Brick called back to us quietly, holding up her hand to her side to get us to crouch off to the side and stop, as we watched them. And kept watching them. They weren't moving, but neither were we. The Captain, dressed in a bright red suit, commanded 2 troopers either side of him. We could take them easily, but we'd alert the city too early, we weren't close enough to our target yet.

" _Hold position_ " The commander called over the comms, noticing my restlessness. I sighed, pulling my rifle close to me. We were sitting ducks here, and more importantly, our time frame was getting shorter, while we waited for a clear path. I understand it would be stupid to engage, but I couldn't help but be a bit impatient. It took another half a minute before they took off to the left, leaving a clear road ahead of us.

" _Alright, move up, target is ahead of the next street. Watch our backs when we come out of concealment_ " Central called over the radio again, his voice loud in my ear. We darted across the street in a small group, taking in what lay ahead of us. I could just make out the form of a Sectoid, with two troopers either side of it. Behind them lay a building, to which the front had been blasted off. This was the place alright.

" _Zero, see if you can get an elevated position on the building to your left_ " the voice in my head called, as I turned my attention to an unremarkable building to my left, more than likely someone's home. I climbed up the gutter pipe leading up the side, careful to move slowly and quietly as I did so. Reaching the roof, I made my way over to the top corner, thankful there was a little bit of cover. I had an advantageous position looking down on the building from here.

"Two more contacts spotted. Captain and Sectoid class," I muttered as I pressed my hand to my ear. "Right side" indicating their position relative to me. I looked down to the street below, as Brick and Goblin moved up, weapons drawn and at the ready.

" _Alright, take the shot on the closest Sectoid first. Everyone into overwatch except Zero_ " The command came. I wasn't too far from my target, definitely close enough for them to shoot back at me though. I slowly drew in my breath, releasing it even slower, as my scope zeroed in on the head of the Sectoid. My finger rested on the trigger, half pushing it down, waiting for…the perfect moment…

The Sectoid turned its head my way, and I didn't hesitate. My shot broke the relative silence, as the Sectoid fell to the floor immediately. The two troopers broke for cover, finding only the bullet storm provided courtesy of Brick, Goblin, and Alphabet, as they too lay in a lifeless mess.

" _Brick, push up, position in full cover. Goblin, right side, Aid protocol on Goblin!"_ The orders came out, as they moved up below me to my right. Indeed, the second squad of aliens closed onto us from our right.

" _Focus fire the Sectoid, Zero, Goblin!"_ The commander called. Without hesitation, I brought my scope up to the body of the Sectoid, who had found high cover, but was at a bit of an angle to me, so I could see him. My shot rang out, as I found my target.

"Target still up" I called through the comms, as I saw Goblin's shot's miss.

"One second, I'm on it!" Brick called, whipping the grenade launcher from her back, and firing it towards the Sectoid. It had barely any time to react, it's screaming heard barely over that of the explosion. I could see the Captain pointing towards our Ranger, shouting in its odd language, before firing upon him.

"Taking fire!" He called, several shots missing him, I can only think due to the distortion field around him. He kept his head down, as the commander ordered return fire from Brick. The shots found their mark, but the Captain recovered, taking position behind the cover.

" _Goblin, pay him back!_ "

The Ranger drew his sword, dashing after the Captain, cutting into him before he could return fire.

"Hostiles spotted, high ground, left side!" He called, as he dashed back into the cover of the remaining wall of the building.

"I'm being flanked from behind!" Alphabet called, finding cover just as some shots flew past her. I could make out the figure of the previous patrol behind us, running down the street. I watched down my scope, getting a familiar glint in my scope as the street lights shone off the bright red armor of the Captain. Firing my shot, the Captain fell early, but the troopers still ran to find cover as I reloaded my weapon. More shots were fired at our position, this time finding Alphabet, after destroying her cover.

"I'm hit!" She cried out, weapon burns showing on the outside of her Kevlar armor, now tattered and destroyed. She ran towards Brick and Goblin, to find more cover from the projectiles.

"What the fuck is that" Goblin called, as I spotted it too. A Viper emerged from the cover on the roof, with a trooper by her side.

"Viper! Watch her tongue!" I called out, scoping in on one of the troopers behind us. My shot found its mark, narrowly before I ducked my head to avoid the beam coming from behind me, thanking my lucky stars that she had missed.

"Watch her what?" He called back. Obviously, he'd never seen one of them fight before, or maybe not even seen one before. "I have eyes on the target!" Goblin called, opening the door remaining on the wall in front of us, which was obscuring the bright purple globe, stood on a tall black stand.

" _Quick, take the shot, that transmission is about to come through_ "

Goblin took aim through the doorway, finding the globe, as it exploded in a purple plasma burst, making enough noise for me to catch the Viper off guard for a second. I whipped out of my cover, quickly trying to take the shot at the Snake. The bullet seemed to reflect off the side of the armor just underneath her chest. I could see her hiss in my direction, her jaw unhinging and showing me her wide gaping mouth before she moved behind more cover.

"Shot failed to connect" I commented, slightly caught off guard myself by missing the shot. Brick launched her second grenade at the other flanking soldier, as Alphabet used the medkit she had equipped on herself. The burns to her skin immediately started to lose their blackened color, as the regenerative powers of the medkit took effect.

"Fuck, that stings" She groaned from behind her cover. Goblin dashed towards the second trooper, blade unholstered, skewering the clone on its tip as he leaped at it.

"Hahaha! Got ya! HURK…" The comms erupted in my ear, as I saw a tongue wrap around his neck, pulling him on top of the building. His blade remained firmly planted in his previous target, so had no weapon in his hands. Moments later I saw his gun fall from the roof, and break upon hitting the floor. It certainly wasn't a low roof by any means. "She's got me, I can't…." I heard through the comms again. I looked onto the roof, barely seeing her body coil around her victim, as she was behind some sort of vent on top.

"I…can't…breathe…. please don't kill me" He breathed out his remaining air as she strangled him.

" _Zero, do you have a shot?"_ I heard in my ear from command.

"Negative, sir, no angle" I replied disheartedly. Nowhere on the rooftop I was on would get a decent angle on the Viper.

"I've got one, sir!" Alphabet called. I looked down to her position, she could definitely see more of the Viper, but I wasn't sure what to do. I could feel panic onsetting as I watched the situation grow out of my control.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 2313 EST 3/29/2035, location: City A135)

I watched the human in my coil struggle again for breath, as he begged for mercy. I had already disarmed him, and sitting here I was a stationary target for them to shoot at me, so I decided to let him go, returning behind my cover as he choked on the air he was now trying to breathe in, on the floor.

"Stay on the floor or you'll find a round through your head" I hissed, watching him nod several times, putting his hands open in front of him, and remaining on the floor. While I have been ordered to fight until my death against all terrorists, I had no plan of ending my life just yet. I saw them reach the transmitter before I could make it back from my patrol. I knew this was going to happen, I called it. If only we had more reinforcements.

"Don't fire, or come any closer!" I called out of my cover. I wasn't going to lean anywhere to my left, knowing that the Sniper that narrowly missed me was still watching, waiting for the shot through my head. I gulped, mustering more strength in my voice. "I've got my rifle pointed at your friend's head! If you so much as take a step, he is ended!" I called again. I heard silence as a response until I could make out the smaller female talking. "Is he still alive? I saw him get constricted?"

"I'm alive" He confirmed from the floor of the roof I was on. I clutched my beam rifle closer to my chest, my tail restless, I couldn't control it. I took three deep breaths, before leaning out slightly to my right. I could make out two female humans, both in gear, one had already been shot but was the one I heard. I couldn't see any more grenades on the bandolier of the larger one either, and nothing on the small one, so I should be safe in my cover.

"Leave, and I will release him" I spoke to them, watching their reactions intently, as the one who had already been shot put their hands up to their ears. "I swear, take three steps back now or I'm shooting him now!" I yelled as the smaller one took a step closer, her weapon leveled at me. Suddenly, I heard a crack at my tail from my left side, as I instinctively dodged out of my cover to my right. There was no way that Sniper had an angle, right? I turned around to see the rifle barrel pointed at me explode in a flash of light feeling a sharp stabbing pain in my chest, and along my hood. Fuck them, if I'm gonna go down, I'm gonna go down with a fight. I snapped around towards the two targets on the floor, lifting my beam rifle and firing a single round, punching a hole through the smaller one's head. I didn't have time to think as I felt a mass being thrown into me, knocking me from the side of the building. It almost went in slow motion, as I saw the human I had spared had flung himself at me, using enough of his mass to push me off of the edge, as he fell on top of me. I couldn't…quite…maneuver around in time, as I could feel a huge amount of nausea rise along my body before I felt the sweet painless concrete beneath me…

* * *

(Corporal Zero, 2314 EST 3/29/2035, location: A135)

I clambered down from the building I was on, to meet with Brick and Goblin, as they stared down at Alphabet, Brick closing her eyes for her. Goblin muttered expletives under his breath, taking the necklace from her neck, her tags. I glanced over towards the Viper, who had bullet holes littering the side of her body, green blood dribbling from the wounds, and several punctures in her hood. Alphabet was very unlucky not to find a killing round, as they were all close to the head.

"Is the Viper still alive?" I asked as Brick leaned down, grabbing the Viper's wrist, and her neck, clearly unsure which place was best for measuring a pulse, if any.

"I…think so? I can't tell. I think I felt one pulse, but I'm not sure…"

"I think snakes typically have very low bpm" I commented, leaning down to inspect the wounds. "What should we do with her?"

Goblin chimed in his opinion first, shoving the barrel of his gun at the Viper. "Easy. Rid her just like the rest of these troops here. Bastard took our support!" He shouted.

" _Skyranger picking up in 20 seconds. Bring the Viper in as well,_ _alive_ _. If Tygan doesn't find any use for a live subject, then they go for enough on the Black Market, and we could sure use supplies."_

"Yikes. Wonder what the Black Market does to them" I shuddered at the thought, gently picking up Alphabet's body over my shoulder, as Brick tried the same with the Viper, struggling considerably more.

"Don't know. Don't want to think about it" Brick struggled, as she half carried, half dragged the Viper with us, to the extraction point. We needed to order a harness down for the still bleeding Viper, securing her first, as Goblin and Brick went up into the ship before I followed with Alphabet, her still warm body over my shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

(Corporal 'Zero', 2352 EST 3/29/2035, location: Unknown)

Getting back aboard the Avenger was a huge relief for me. Stepping off the ship to see half a dozen of our scientists dressed in their pristine white lab coats, only to see them dirty their clothes with the blood of the Alien who still lay unconscious, was a strange sight, to say the least. Between them, they lifted the body with relative ease, strapping the snake down to a table that looked like someone had cut the end of the legs off just to put on wheels, more than likely Chief Engineer Shen's doing. I watched in silence as they bound the Viper's arms, neck, and her body twice, and tightly, before wheeling the table off through the doors. Now that the Viper was taken care of, I'm sure the next group coming down were to pick up Alphabet. Poor girl, I kind of felt it was my fault. The Commander had ordered me to shoot at the 'feet' of the Viper whilst it was behind cover, in hopes of drawing her out from the other side, which indeed was what occurred. It was just a matter of luck that the Viper didn't fall to our Specialist, or so Brick mentioned as she tried to re-assure Goblin of the same thing. But I couldn't help but replay the shot I had taken, the one where I had her right in my sights...I don't know what happened. Maybe I pulled the shot? But I saw with my own eyes the spark as my round reflected off of the side of her armor, and her wide mouth staring at me through my scope for a millisecond as she hissed at me.

I couldn't stay around, not to watch right now. I don't think I would be able to keep my composure enough. The shot through her head was small, precise, and clean. The small respite was that her death was quick, I hope. I dropped my gear down haphazardly on the table, taking a brief moment to try and collect my thoughts, wanting to tear my brain out of my head as it kept forcing me to watch the moments of the last battle. I looked back to the Skyranger as I began heading for the door, Brick was kneeling beside Goblin, her hand on his shoulder, leaning over to try and coerce his head from his hands, as he knelt at the bottom of the ramp. I felt weak for not being there to help like Brick was, but it was simply not something I could do at this point. I trudged back to my room, trying to slightly straighten my hair, even though I knew it would remain messy before I entered my dorm, the lights still on inside.

I glanced up, watching the three pairs of eyes in the room meet mine, before Vandal and Samurai turned their heads down back to their game, while Deadbolt stared at me with sullen eyes, with a grimace to accompany them. He was giving me a knowing look as I turned towards the bathroom. They were playing cards between the three of them, but I knew they had seen the mission transmission. They too knew what had happened, saw my shots. Saw me miss. Miss that one crucial shot. I closed the door shut behind me, fumbling for the lock, and yanked my sticky top from my torso, and freeing my legs from their restricting clothes, socks and all, as I climbed into the shower. I was freezing, with the limited amount of heating on the ship, I knew the shower water was only going to be colder.

I shuddered, the shiver shaking me from my feet, straight up through my spine, as I reached my hand to the shower handle, in anticipation of the cold water. I turned it on quickly, recoiling as the cold water assaulted my body, but staying underneath, despite my unease. I just stood there, listening to the water drench my body, soak my hair, as I looked at my feet, the water dripping from my head around them, my whole body shivering under the cold torrent falling onto me. Minutes passed before I decided to even pick up the shampoo, slowly moving it through my hair, scrunching up the front of my hair and trying desperately to relax, though the unrelenting temperature of the shower was making it harder than it needed to be. I dunked my head back under the running water, watching as the white soap dribbled out of my hair, slowly down my chest, as I closed my eyes again, tilting my head forwards, to let the shampoo fall out of my hair and not into my eyes. Once again, I slowly worked my hands through my hair, as they caught on the small tangles in it, pulling through, as I grunted inwardly at the small pain it provided. It felt almost cathartic, drawing my mind away for a while, distracting myself with the discomfort. But I was simply feeling too cold to stand in the shower anymore, letting the water wash my thoughts away. I turned off the shower, standing still as I waited for the water to drip off of me. It's strange, I always felt colder after waiting outside the shower for a while, despite the shower itself being colder.

I finally relented, grabbing a towel from behind me, immediately throwing it over my head, forcefully drying it from the water still making it damp. After drying the remainder of my body, I put my boxers back on, leaving the bathroom to put some other clothes on, chucking my military wear in a basket at the side of the room, designated for any stuff we needed washing. The others were again avoiding my gaze before a knock came at the door. I started digging around underneath my bunk through my bag, for a pair of tracksuits, and a black shirt. Deadbolt left from the table, as a second knock sounded at the door, more impatient than the first. He opened up the door to reveal the bulky figure I knew well enough that I didn't need to wait for the voice to identify.

"Brick" Deadbolt greeted, his coarse voice still loud enough for me to hear, moving himself to occupy the space of the door. "You know full well that The ladies should remain in their section of the dorms" I overheard, as I moved closer to the pair.

"Aye, true, but that didn't stop you from a little escapade a while ago" She winked at him. I couldn't see his reaction, but I was hoping he was blushing heavily, as she tapped her nose twice at him, moving past him and greeting me with our two-fingered salute.

"Zero, I was going to suggest that you join me and Deadbolt at the bar for a drink, or two. On me" She smiled confidently at me.

"Hang on, I never agreed on anything..." Deadbolt interrupted, earning an eyebrow from Brick before he clarified. "I'm still coming. You offered free drinks!" He chuckled.

I know I sure as hell could go for a drink right now...even if it was only to act as a bit of night medicine. I nodded in agreement, as Brick clasped her hand back around my shoulder, leading me out of the door and down towards the bar, Deadbolt following us close behind.

The bar was located in the soldier's recreational center and tended to be a bit busier during the evening, rather than late at night. As I found us a table, Brick sat down with me, as Deadbolt went to get us something to drink.

"Hey, Zero... I was wondering how you were holding up. I didn't catch you before you left earlier," She found my hand in hers, rubbing my knuckles with her thumb. I could feel even from the back of my knuckles how rough and calloused her fingers were. "Shit happens, Zero. You know that more than anyone. Just don't let it get to you. Look, I saw myself, that she missed a shot on you, what if that had connected? You know all of us would have felt exactly the same as you are feeling right now. Don't get yourself in a slump"

I looked up into her warm expression, giving me some reassurance. "I...I just can't stand to think of what happened. I could have stopped it." I dismissed, trying weakly to pull my hand from under hers, to no avail.

"You could have stopped it? You followed the Commander's orders, not the other way around" She queried, her voice still somewhat gentle.

"I hit her earlier, I grazed a shot off of her armor. I could have got her before she got Alphabet..."

"That's not your fault, you twit. They're the hardest thing to hit out there, you know. You did all you could, and you know it. It's out of your hands completely, it's over the Commander's shoulders now, and you know he feels every loss of life as a huge weight over him. He made the call for you to flush the Viper out of cover, not you. He was the one that told Alphabet to engage, not you. I'm just as angry about it as you are, but you can't let it get to you like that. It's a risk of our occupation" Her harsh words were balanced out by her soft voice and kind eyes, as Deadbolt came back over, three drinks in hand.

"Beer?" Brick asked

"Nah, cider. The good stuff" He smiled, taking a seat next to Brick, noticing her hand on mine. "Sorry, am I interrupting something? I didn't realize this was a date" He laughed. I pulled my hand from Brick's blushing heavily, as she laughed with him.

"Pfft, no way. Just trying to cheer him up. Anyway, he's not my type" She smirked, grabbing her drink and taking a big gulp from it before Deadbolt could comment back.

"Not your type? Prefer your Rangers, do you?" He teased, jabbing her slightly with his elbow. I watched as Brick giggled slightly in response, for a moment I thought Deadbolt had hit the mark.

"No, I definitely prefer my Snipers" She teased back with a wink, a new blush decorating Deadbolt's face again. He was a tall man, Caucasian, with a very rugged look about him, despite being so young. His eyes betrayed his age, small bags always forming underneath them. "But...maybe with a few more...'curves', than maybe you or Zero have" She grinned, as both Deadbolt and I came to realize her message. I simply drank from my glass to avoid her eye contact as she looked to us for our expressions, Deadbolt outwardly laughing. The cider was surprisingly tasty, the smooth drink left very little bitterness in the mouth, and had a sweet apple-y taste to it. Definitely better than the pigswill they called beer here. Brick was giving Deadbolt a mocked look of hurt, before she too joined him in his laugh.

"Sorry, my apologies, Brick" Deadbolt restrained his laughter, taking a sip from his glass himself. "Never really crossed my mind as an option. Anyway, Zero" He muttered, turning his attention to me. "If Brick's trying to cheer you up, I will too. I saw how you looked when you came in, and you spent way too long in that shower for my liking. I saw the fight from the Commander's Point of view, I really don't think anyone could have done better than you did. What the Commander ordered was what would have normally worked, it was just extremely unlucky. It's a real shame that that kind of stuff ends a life" He finished his sentence by taking a large sip from his glass.

"And if you're worried about the shot you 'missed', that was a hell of a shot. She was the one that moved out of the way, not the other way around, you can't always 'predict' their movement. And you know full well that you'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take." He nodded at me, raising his glass again, obviously wanting us to clink our glasses with his.

"To never giving up, whatever the odds" He announced. "Vigilo Confido!" He hit his glass against mine and Brick's as we raised them to his small toast before he downed his drink. "Brick, is another round still on you?"

"Sure, go for it" She sighed in mock annoyance, before turning to me as Deadbolt left the table. "Never thought he was one for motivational speeches" She chuckled slightly, steadily finishing her drink as well. I'd barely had a quarter of mine. I appreciated the words coming from him. Deadbolt was a lot more decorated than I was, he earned his Major badge last week and was the best Sniper on board the Avenger, so I felt a sense of pride as he complimented my shooting, and put me slightly more at ease. That, or I was more of a lightweight than I thought I was.

"It helps" I forced a weak smile, trying to catch up on the liquid intake before my second glass. Deadbolt arrived at the table shortly after, three fresh ciders in his hand.

"Last one, ladies, he's closing up after this one. Shame, I could have definitely gone for a couple more anyway"

"You and me both" Brick responded, starting her new drink immediately. I wouldn't be able to catch up at this rate. "Even if it was just to catch up a bit more. Haven't seen you in a while, really" She said with a slight sigh.

"It has been some time, hasn't it?" He shrugged. "I guess time flies fast here. Anyway, before we get too off topic, what about that Viper you caught today? We haven't had anything alive be captured by us yet. I mean, apart from that one advent Captain, but he died pretty quickly after we hacked his chip..." He grimaced. I remember he was part of the team tasked with bringing one in, so after they disabled it, and brought it in for questioning, which was useless, they tried to hack into the chip, when a being spawned on the ship, killing one of our scientists before it was killed itself. Needless to say, the Captain did not survive. The being was dubbed a 'Codex', which I had heard rumors it was made entirely of light, apart from its robotic brain.

Brick nervously rapped her glass with her nails as she responded. "I think Dr. Tygan plans to be handling the case...But I heard the Commander also suggest the Black Market" I saw Deadbolt recoil slightly at the mention of the Black Market.

"Why? What's up with the Market? What'll they do?" I immediately quizzed, as soon as I noticed his reaction. Deadbolt paused briefly, drinking more of his glass, before explaining.

"The Market is a bit notorious for managing to get their hands on things they shouldn't do. I can only imagine what they would do to a live Viper. I dunno, kill it and use its body parts for medicine? I've also heard that they cut off the fangs and inject neurotoxins to make them more harmless, to be kept as some sort of pet. Sick bunch" He commented, shaking his head. "I mean, they're just rumors, but I can't think of anything else..."

I shuddered, finally getting through the first of my glasses, and trying to move onto the second, making more progress a bit quicker this time. As much as I wished ill for the Viper, I didn't wish for the treatment that I was just told of on her. Manipulated into such a weak state, it sounded inhumane.

Brick had already finished her drink, slamming the glass down on the table, burping loudly to announce her victory, receiving a chuckle from the Sniper sitting opposite me. "Alrighty, I'm off then. Thanks for joining me down here guys. I'll see you tomorrow morning. There'll be a meet in the memorial room for Alphabet before we can see how our Snake 'friend' is doing..." She informed me, standing up from the table and pushing the chair back underneath, Deadbolt following suit. I quickly chugged the remainder of my drink, immediately regretting my decision, as the slight tingling of the alcohol irritated my throat too much. I coughed, placing my glass drink back on the table, before tagging behind Deadbolt to head back to my room, knowing that I was going to sleep a lot easier than I thought I would have earlier today.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 0820 EST 3/30/2035, location: Unknown)

My eyes slowly peeled open, my eyelids were stuck together, making it difficult for me to just see. The first thing I could tell was how tired I was. My entire body ached, especially my chest and head. I could only make out a gray floor in front of me, and what seemed like an even grayer wall that met it. I was laying on my side, my body outstretched, with only my tail coiling slightly. I felt so cold, the chill in the room passing through my scales as if they weren't there. Damn my sensitivity.

I tried pushing myself up from the ground, my arms already felt weak, and I certainly couldn't move my tail underneath me, it just wasn't working. "Where...am...I...?" I gasped, my lungs burning immediately, the extra pain sending me crashing back to the ground, lying on my back. I put my hand to my chest, where the pain was, noticing that I wasn't touching metal anymore, but instead some sort of fabric. My fingers ran over my uneven skin, my scales were missing in what I thought was a line. No wonder I felt so cold. My fingers traced along a long ridge that lined the side of my chest, where my scales were missing, and it hurt. My eyes couldn't adjust, still sticking slightly every time I blinked, trying to see through the darkness. I felt like screaming, I didn't know what was happening, yet my lungs wouldn't allow it, my throat wouldn't allow it.

I gave up with my hands, lying on the floor, taking long, but shallow breaths into me, it hurt too much to do anything else. Even though my head hurt like someone was hitting it with their fists repeatedly, I tried to think back to before I woke up with my burning lungs and weak physical state. I remembered the battle, shooting the soldier running, the swordsman falling to the trooper...it slowly returned to my mind as I replayed through the scenario, my breathing easing. I remember the damn Sniper...it was a second battle. My shot missing on him, I watched it fly past his head, excruciatingly close. I remember the human on the floor...his hands in front of him as I pointed my weapon at him. I remember feeling scared, but determined. The crack against the floor as I heard the bullet, only to face down the barrel of the gun. I could almost make out every detail of the human firing the weapon at me, her long brunette hair, in what I knew to be a 'ponytail'.

It was all coming back, the shot I took against her that killed her on the spot, right up until the moment the human on the floor pushed me from the building. I shook my head in disbelief, pain returning as I made the action, causing me to hiss out into the darkness. Before I could react, a bright light shone from my right, far from me, but still blinding my eyes, my head hurting even more. Within the space of a second, a brighter light shone from above me, I hissed at the lights, unable to tell what was happening. Unable to tell what was coming. My head pounded, my chest hurt, and I couldn't move my body from my tail, up to about halfway to my head.

"She's scared. We need to let her rest!" I heard a loud, loud voice come from the light to my right, my ears not adjusted to the sound yet. My eyes were still recovering, making me wince as I pushed off of my hands, raising myself and pushing my hood out as far as I could. It hurt so bad, the pain was almost constricting me. I couldn't go, not like this. I wasn't gonna let these humans take me. I didn't take into account the voice I heard, I just grasped around the ground for my rifle. It must be here somewhere. I continued hissing at the noises, wishing they would go.

"Can we dim the light at all?" A lower, male voice spoke over my hissing. I tried paying more attention to what they were saying, as only a few moments after he spoke, the harsh bright light above me all but switched off, as I blinked again, trying desperately to see. I could make out four figures walking towards me, keeping their distance and moving slowly. I could just about see the weapons being held by three of them as they went, raised and pointed at me. I tried to move back away from them, but being unable to move my body, this proved ineffective. Panicked thoughts were racing through my head. What did they want? Why were they here? Where the hell was I and why couldn't I move? I couldn't concentrate, even as they stepped closer and closer.

"I'm glad the Viper is awake though. I wasn't sure she was going to make it through that procedure" The measured, low voice speaking again. The figures appeared to stop moving, as my eyes gradually adjusted. The gray of the wall and ceiling started to begin to look more like a dull green color. In the room I was in, I could see two sets of bunk beds, with two sets of doors, one a white color, looking rather unremarkable and off to the side, and a steel door, which I just witnessed the people walking through. There were small machines on the walls, that I would have guessed were cameras pointed in my direction, and a black TV screen on the right wall. Infront of me stood the larger of the 2 females I encountered by the transmitter, with her short hair, and large gun pointing in my direction. 2 men stood forward from her, in the center. One wore a white coat but had black skin, and glasses, while the other wore a sort of vest that was a grayish color, and held a pistol in his hand, but not pointing at me. Finally, the male on the right too held a pistol to me, smaller than the other three, with messy, brown hair. It took me a few moments, but I pieced together that I was currently being held hostage in some sort of human living quarters by the X-com terrorists, as I could now make out the badges on their uniforms, even embroidered on their coats. I ceased my defense towards them, as it was only going to make them shoot at me. I was in no position to fight back, not by a long shot.

"Well, what do you think Dr. Tygan?" The male in the gray vest spoke out, in a rough, surprisingly even lower voice than I heard earlier, before the familiar male voice I now knew belonged to 'Dr Tygan' responded.

"I would have to make a better examination to check for her health, Central. However, if you are asking me the same thing the Commander has been asking of me, the answer is still a no. I'm not going to be able to learn anything from a live specimen that I wouldn't be able to extract from a dead one. And I'm certainly not going to kill a sentient being just for use in my laboratory." He said, his words neither honeyed nor soft. What did he mean by 'specimen'? I understood that he was referring to me, and I could only guess at the context by his comparison with a 'dead' specimen, and the mention of a laboratory. I was cautious, but from the sounds of it, my safety may have been due to the opinion of the man in the white coat.

"Now is not the time to start quoting ethics, Doctor. Anything you can give us will be helpful" The older man argued his case again.

"Well, ethics played a part of the reason as to why I am currently at X-com as we speak, Bradford. But regardless, I'm not able to learn anything from this Viper, in terms of my science. I'm sure a behavioral psychologist would leap at the opportunity, however, I have neither the time nor expertise to do that. What you are asking of me otherwise is better off completed by yourself. Vipers are known to understand and speak English, in general" The man known as 'Dr. Tygan' spoke back to 'Bradford'.

I could see the unease on the face of the pistol-wielding soldier on my right, his arm locked onto me, and his eyes almost fixated on mine. The Doctor came closer to me, who I couldn't very well get away from.

"Okay, I'm just going to go through a quick check for your alertness, okay? I'm not going to harm you." He reassured, kneeling down to my height, moving slowly. I nodded as a response, keeping an eye on the soldiers as they all tensed up while the man got closer. Were they scared of me? They outnumbered me four to one. Dr Tygan pulled something out of his pocket, my vision once again interrupted as a bright light shone in my eyes again. Briefly, I imagined the phone camera going off from the human, comparing the light intensity to the light now. He shone it in either of my eyes, switching from on to another.

"Visual response is good, alert" He announced, moving his fingers slightly closer to my head, making a sort of clicking noise with them.

"Are you able to hear this okay?"

"Yesss..." I responded weakly, already hearing the rolling of my s, recoiling at the sound. I could see the composure of the woman break slightly as I did so, before the Doctor interrupted my thoughts again.

"I just need a closer look at the scar.."

"What ssscar?" I hissed back, before I looked down at my chest. Indeed, I was not wearing my armor but some sort of fabric, that I could see was draped over my shoulders and concealed my chest area. To the left of the clothing, a large red scar ran down my length for about 20cm, I would estimate, and as I felt earlier, the scales around it were removed.

The Doctor quickly glanced over towards it, pulling out a small piece of paper, and making a few notes. "Voice sounds weakened, breathing appears hampered minorly. Auditory response is fine as well, but I would say she is going to be recovering from those injuries for a bit. Contact me again if the hoarseness in her voice persists for longer than six hours, Central. All I can say is that the rest of the wounds have healed very nicely considering. No holes in the hood remain, nor perforations within the bodily area. The medkits have done their job fine." He evaluated, standing up again. "I'll leave you to it, Central"

"I'll contact you if I need something, Doctor Tygan" The older man agreed, his attention now turning to me. Dr Tygan turned away from the group, leaving me with just the three others.

"Well, since you seem able to speak, and understand us, I'll tell you what will be happening. You have four guards keeping you within this room at any given point, at least two will be stationed in here with you, to make sure you don't get up to anything. We have no alien holding facility, so you are currently in an unused dorm room, with a bathroom to your use if you need it." He explained, walking back towards the door while the other two soldiers trained their weapons on me. Now my eyes were fully adjusted, I could make out a second, longer weapon on the male's back, the one pointing his pistol at me. I couldn't help but wonder, could it be him? The Sniper from earlier? I wasn't too sure, as I didn't get a good look at him on the battlefield, nor was my vision that great now.

"But for now," Bradford continued, coming back with a round object in his hand, and a cup in the other. "I've brought some food and water for you to have. All the soldiers guarding you have been ordered to shoot first and ask questions later if you decide to cause any trouble, so I would suggest not to. They're a little trigger-happy as it is, don't give them a reason to be"

I nodded, thankful at the mention of food and water. My throat was still burning, and I hadn't realized how hungry I was. As he set the plate down on a table beside the woman, I could see what was on it. It was a plate full of pasta, with bread on the side. And the cup of water wasn't full either.

I opened my mouth to speak to the officer, but stopped, unsure of what to call him. He seemed to carry the most authority out of the group of people, so I suppose they would have called him 'sir'. But I wasn't going to give that title to him.

"I am unable to eat thisss" I called out after him, watching him pause and look at me in a strange way. For a moment I was wondering if it was due to my unclean speech.

"What do you mean, 'you can't eat it'?" He asked, his voice apprehensive.

"I require meat" I hissed again, a look of displeasure spreading across his face. I noticed my tongue flick out as I stared him down, defiant. I wanted food that I could eat, not what humans would have.

"You are asking for an expensive resource to be spent on the likes of a captive. If you are truly hungry, I'm sure this would suffice" He responded, turning back around to the two accompanying him. "Zero, Brick, keep guard for now. Goblin will be down shortly. I'll see you in a bit" He turned around to leave, striding out of the room with a quick pace. I saw the two soldiers exchange a glance between each other, to which I couldn't decipher the meaning of. I wasn't sure if I just missed some sort of gesture between the two, or whether they were communicating without my knowledge. The right one still seemed on edge, his pistol still raised, whilst the second found a bed, sitting down on it, but keeping her weapon trained on me, just much more relaxed.

I waited on the floor as the time passed, hoping my strength would return to me, as I repeatedly tried to push myself onto my tail, which I could just about start to feel again, however, was exceedingly painful to use. As I wasn't getting anywhere with my efforts of standing up, my attention started fleeting, and my curiosity began to get the better of me.

"When he said my wounds have healed...What wounds was he talking about? I do not see any scars except the large one" I broke the silence, causing the male to clutch his weapon a bit more tightly. My voice was sounding better, and by taking my time with the sentence my 's's weren't being dragged out anymore.

He looked me up and down before he answered, his voice sounding nervous and uneasy as he replied. "You received bullet wounds to your chest and hood. Our medicines seem to have allowed for self-regeneration of the wounds within the timescale quick enough to repair them"

"When I was shot, by the girl? Is she dead?"

"Yes, the wounds were given to you by her. She's gone now" He muttered disdainfully, his eyes still focusing on mine, his weapon pointing at my head, tracing it as I moved slightly.

"Good" I scoffed, looking him dead in the eyes. A mixture of anger and hurt, mainly the latter, split across his face. I fancied myself fairly good at reading human emotions, usually. It was a lot harder to read another Viper.

"Why good?" The female asked. Her voice was quite orotund, certainly raised above the voices of my own and the other soldier, and also carried some sort of accent with it, that I hadn't come across before. She too spoke with some pain carried in her voice, though it was much more disguised than her partner's. She had gotten off of her bed, the big gun held in one hand, and the food in the other. I kept my eye on her as she set the food down next to me, before turning around and going back to bring the table over. Her whole manner seemed to be a lot more relaxed than her companion. Either she didn't care much for what I could do...maybe she trusted her partner to do his job? I couldn't tell.

"One less terrorist" I responded truthfully, watching a frown come across her features as she set the table for me, placing the food on top of it. The other soldier burst out immediately.

"We're not terrorists! We're fighting for all of humanity!" He called, lowering his pistol very slightly as he took offense at my words. The other soldier went over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder briefly. I could make out her lowered voice very slightly as she spoke quietly to him.

"Zero, don't let her get to you. Ignore her words" She cooed to him, as he raised his pistol again, but slightly calmer.

"...I know, you're right" He sighed slowly, nodding to her slightly, his head facing down. A third meaning for a nod was thanks, maybe that was what he was doing?

"Look, can I get you anything? A chair?" The woman suggested, holding out her hand, another gesture. I was about to scoff back at her, but thought of something I could use.

"Yeah...I'm very cold. Could I get a blanket?" I asked, spotting one on the beds. She nodded and retrieved it for me without complaint, dropping the blanket onto me. I grabbed the corners near me, pulling it further over my body, twisting my tail to wrap the blanket closer to me as well. I was still cold for the moment, but I hoped to warm up shortly. I offered no thanks to the woman who gave it to me, but she didn't seem to mind. Before any of us could speak, the door opened, and another soldier walked through, and I could make out the shotgun he was holding as he moved over to us. I recognized him as the one I had coiled up on the roof and pushed me off. He was bald, and a bit bigger than the female, with a large nose. I heard the Man in the gray vest call him 'Goblin'. I could sort of see why now.

"So, you're alive after all," He commented, standing up close to me, looking over me with his gun across his body. "I was thoroughly hoping you would be on our good Doctor's dissection table by now" His voice was full of resentment, and disguised anger.

"And I was hoping you would lay perished on the roof, with either a broken set of lungs or a bullet hole in your head, like your friend" I made a similar threat to him, despite him being over me.

"Shut your mouth, you bitch," He almost spat at me, the female coming to stand next to him.

"Back off, Goblin. She's not a threat anymore" The woman mentioned to him, causing him to turn towards her.

"You're gonna let her make threats at me, but not me at her? She's a fucking alien, what do you care?" He shouted at her. I swear I could see tears in his eyes.

"She's still a being, Goblin."She defended herself.

"She killed Alphabet!" He retorted. Yeah, there were definitely tears in his eyes. I kind of wished I was back with the advent troops again, at least they didn't have such open displays of emotion. I could also see the conflict in the smaller male's eyes as he observed.

"Who shot at her first. She spared you as it was. Shit happens, don't let her get to you" She spoke more calmly, her voice still maintained her calm air. "Plus, judging by her attitude, she's not going to listen to me. I'm hoping you will"

The male and the female just looked at each other intently, not another word being spoken, before 'Goblin' nodded in a reluctant manner, turning his back to me.

"Brick, are you not upset about Alphabet? Why are you defending the Viper?" The soldier called Zero asked quietly to 'Brick', after Golbin was out of earshot.

"You know I'm upset about Alphabet. She didn't deserve what happened, and the Viper here should lay dead instead of her. But that's not how it's played out" Brick shrugged casually, leaning over to talk nearer to his ear.

"So you would let her disrespect her memory instead?"

"What choice do I have? I can't just let Goblin shoot her. I..."

"You're the Sniper from the battle?" I asked, interrupting them. Zero paused as he turned away from the Brick, nodding in response to my question.

"You should thank the Elders that you are still alive. My round missed you by mere millimeters" I hissed at him, smiling inwardly as he swallowed in response to my words. Another sign of fear, I had learned from humans.

"And you should count your lucky scales that you didn't lay dead from my shot as well" He retorted shakily. "I saw the scuff on your armor from my bullet"

"You watched them take my armor off me?" I jabbed back immediately. The woman chuckled, closing her eyes as she laughed at the expense of her comrade, who wore a heavy blush on his face. His eyes darted to avoid my gaze immediately.

"No...no, of course not. I saw the armor before, when you were unconscious." He stuttered quickly, clearly embarrassed. Humans were too quick to show their emotions, so unpredictable it was almost funny.

"Anyway, my scales clearly aren't that lucky. I have lost a few with a scar, which seems to be the only wound your medicine hasn't cured" I huffed.

The bald male spoke up again in absence of the other two. "Yeah. One of the shots from Alphabet struck your lung. They had to extract it while repairing your lung. I'm surprised they managed it, you were a dead snake walking...slithering, I mean" The woman again laughed at the other soldier upon him mentioning me walking, earning a glare from Goblin.

"Are you telling me that you humans both shot me, mortally wounding me, and saved me anyway? Pfft, a waste of your resources, if you ask me" I laughed.

"Yeah, at least we agree on that. I guess the Commander decided that you were more use to us alive rather than dead. Though I'm starting to think the contrary" Goblin snapped back at me. I watched as the two other soldiers looked over towards Goblin, amusement on the female's face, and worry on the male's.

"Shame they couldn't save your friend as well as me. I guess I'm more important" I argued back, purposely riling him up. I could see the red in his eyes as the female soldier reached for her gun with two hands, warier now. The one called 'Goblin' raised the shotgun to his shoulder, his eye lining up the two sights and aiming at my face, baring his teeth at me.

"You take that back, right now" He ordered, growling at me. I immediately hissed back at him as loud as I could. My throat and lungs started hurting from it, the burning spreading through my chest upwards.

"Don't give me such an inviting hole to shoot my gun into..." He threatened in a loud voice over my hiss, moving closer to me so the gun barrel was less than a meter from my face. Immediately as he said this, the woman almost dropped her gun, bursting out laughing and holding her side, 'Zero' stifling a laugh himself but keeping his weapon on me, as the bald male snapped around to look at his squadmate, giving her an exasperated look, his face still angry.

"Fuck this. Fuck you, Brick" He said, pushing past Brick, who was still laughing, her hand on her knee as she bent over.

"Goblin, I'm sorry, hang on, Goblin!" She called out to him through her laugh. The door at the far end opened, with a figure in it, obviously having been sent down to diffuse the situation. As Goblin neared the door, the man grabbed him by the collar, pushing him against the wall. I couldn't hear the conversation, but it was quick, and one-sided, before Goblin was released, and walked out past the newcomer. I couldn't make out his face to well, but he was wearing a green X-com sweater, looking over towards me, before heading out himself. Brick was still recovering, while Zero kept his pistol and eyes on me. I guess that could have gone a little better, but the other two seemed to be leaving me alone for now.

"So..." The male interrupted the sound of the silence, shifting from one foot to the other. "What's your name?"

I paused, wondering if I should give it to them or not, just to play with them. I decided against. "Unit 19201648" I cited. Both of their mouths were wide for a second before Brick interjected.

"Uh...come again?"

"Unit 19201648" I repeated, watching their disbelief.

"That can't be right. Do you have a name? Not a code or number?" Zero asked.

"My name is the code. The 192 stand for my species, Viper, and 01648 is my personal number. This way I'm more identifiable to anyone."

"Well, what about if you're talking with another Viper?" Brick asked inquisitively

"Well, I will call some of them 'sister', but otherwise just by name. Sorry, by code" I explained, correcting myself slightly.

"Huh. Wouldn't have thought. What should we call you then?" She inquired.

"Unit 19201648 is fine. Or you know, follow suit and just call me 'Viper'. I guess there's no other Viper here to contest that title with me. Or is there?"

"No, you're the only one" Zero responded, still standing alert with his pistol on me. "How old are you then?"

I shrugged at his answer. "Truthfully, I could only estimate. We don't measure our lives by 'age' as you humans do, only by if we are young, or 'of age'"

"What about Birthdays, or whatever?" Zero asked

"Well, it was not something we had seen be observed until we came to Earth. The Elders have mixed our genetics with your own, so there was not any use for counting our years alive beforehand. It's not like we actually had a timescale to measure it against up until now"

"Well, how old are you to us then?"

"What is this, an interrogation? I don't know, like...24 Earth years? What does it matter? I was already alive on first contact" I complained, his persistence on the topic irritating me.

"Sorry..." He said, sighing outwardly. "Just wanted to pass the time..." I rolled my eyes, to the best of my ability at his statement. I again tried to muster enough strength to support myself on my tail, getting a little closer than previously, but otherwise still failing, falling back to the floor. I couldn't wait to get out of this place.

* * *

(Corporal 'Zero', EST 1800 3/30/2035, location: Unknown)

I sat down in the Cafeteria with Brick, and Goblin sat opposite us. He had cooled down from earlier, and after Brick explained herself to him, he even laughed slightly at the situation. Tempers were all a little high after the mission that went awry, and I certainly couldn't blame him for getting riled up at the Viper. She was trying her best to antagonize me too, but Brick has the correct mental state to deal with her teasing. For dinner today was sausages and mash, which we hadn't eaten in ages. It tasted almost like the meals from back home, that my Mum would have made for me, even with gravy to go with it. Though the mash was still slightly lumpy, and not smooth like my mum used to make it. But Brick interrupted both me and Goblin before we could begin to chow down.

"Hey...guys, unpopular opinion...I'm going to spare my sausages for the Viper," She said with a sigh, opening up a small, transparent, plastic box and putting two of her three sausages inside the box. "Would you guys do the same. You don't have to...I'm just asking. I feel kinda bad for her, she didn't touch her pasta for breakfast, nor her lunch." She gave us her best effort at puppy dog eyes as she pushed the box towards us, Goblin looking to me to see what I was doing.

"Brick, won't this get us in trouble?" I lowered my voice down to her, leaning across the table for her to hear. "I'm not risking myself for a Viper"

"I'm not asking you to risk yourself at all. I'm saying put 1 or 2 of your sausages in here, and I'll deliver it myself. All you'll be is a tad hungrier" She explained, shaking the box slightly at me. Before I could make a second rebuttal, Vandal sat down next to Brick with his tray, glancing at both of us, Brick not turning her gaze away from me.

"Oh...what's going on here?" Vandal asked, darting his eyes between me and Brick. I shook my head twice, as I put two of my sausages in the box, returning Brick's normal smile to her face.

"Are you bullying him?" He laughed, his hand brushing his hair out of his face in disbelief.

"No, no, I wouldn't do that to little Zero here" She grinned, pushing the box over to Goblin.

"Don't count on it, Brick. Just be glad I'm not reporting you for it" He half threatened to her, as she shrugged, thrusting the box to Vandal.

"Brick, what is this?"

"New charity. Sausages for the snake. You in?" She grinned. Vandal laughed back at her, before realizing she was dead serious.

"Brick, I don't know about you, but that's not a great idea. The Viper is still in that damn dorm room because the Commander doesn't know what to do with her. I'm sure we're flying towards the Black Market as we speak. She won't need food" He argued.

"Hmm? Has Deadbolt told you of that little rumor?" She asked. I saw Vandal squirm in his seat. "One sausage and I won't tell him that you told me he told you" Brick winked at Vandal.

"I didn't tell you he did"

"Exactly" Brick grinned again, as Vandal sighed, putting one of his sausages in, as Brick sealed the box and hid it back under the table.

"Alright, sorry for the 'extortion', but seriously, she's starving in there. It's best for everyone, she'll be more cooperative if she's not starving" Brick explained, drinking her water immediately afterward.

"Cooperative? She was fine when I was on watch. Sat on the bed the whole time doing and saying nothing, just sat there watching us. Little creepy; yes. Uncooperative; no. That said. She's the enemy. I was actually kind of wishing she gave me a reason to plug her" Vandal disagreed, as he started digging into the rest of his food.

"You should have seen her winding Goblin up. And Zero, for that matter" Brick shrugged, ignoring her food for now. "But me and Zero have a shift on watch in half an hour, well, just less. I wanted to try and give her some food, as Bradford wasn't giving her anything she could eat. At least she's moving around now I guess, she couldn't earlier"

"It's Zero and I, Brick. Oh, by the way, I believe we might be going to attack an Advent Blacksite tomorrow, I heard Bradford talking about it with the commander in the command center earlier. Fingers crossed I get to go on it" Vandal changed the topic quickly after correcting Brick, deftly dodging Brick's immediate demolishment of Vandal in return for correcting her.

"Wow, that's cool. We've been waiting to attack that site for months now!" Goblin chirped back. "I'm not gonna get picked, but I think you and Deadbolt are almost a certain on that mission, I wouldn't worry about it" He smiled, giving a respectful nod to Vandal, whilst his mouth was still full of mash. I swear I saw a bit fly from his mouth near my plate, but I couldn't see it.

Dinner didn't last long, with Vandal ending up giving Golbin a bunch of tips, before Brick and I headed back off to the dorm room Unit 19201648 was being kept in. We opened the door, as the two soldiers inside made their way out almost immediately after we entered. I suppose guard duty would normally be very boring, especially if the captive was just asleep, as she was right now. The Viper was curled up under one of the duvets on the bunk beds, her little tongue flicking out of her mouth occasionally. Brick walked to stand near the front door, waiting for the food to arrive, as I stood at the base of the bunk, watching the Viper. Her hood had slightly folded on itself, narrowing her neck's profile as her head lay on the pillow. I sure hoped she wasn't gonna be angry once we woke her up.

After 10 minutes, Brick walked from the door, stopping off at the table by the Viper's bed. The hot food was just a plate of mash, with gravy and a bunch of peas. I could see Brick's point, I couldn't see the Viper eating this unless she really needed to. I stood back from the bed, as Brick starting shouting to wake up the Viper.

"Alrighty, ya food's here, wake up! Come on! Not gonna repeat myself again!" She called out, having left the plate on the table near, except I could see the 5 sausages she had added to the plate. THe Viper slowly woke up, her hood fully extending again as she pushed herself up from the bed, immediately glancing over to the food, her tongue flicking out of her mouth repeatedly. It took her less than a second to recognize the meat on her plate, and immediately grabbed the plate as she sat up on her tail, using her fingers to pick off the sausages from the plate.

"I can't believe they finally gave me meat" She muttered excitedly after she had finished wolfing them down, before trying to eat some of the mash. Apparently eating the sausages only started her appetite, but she didn't manage more than a mouthful before she shivered down her body, putting the plate back to one side. "I thought he said I wasn't getting any?"

Brick tapped her nose twice, to which the Viper gave a slightly puzzled look, as Brick started explaining herself.

"I spared you some of our food today for you to eat. Didn't want to see you go hungry. Just don't let the Commander find out I gave you this" She smiled.

"Thank you" She nodded back towards Brick, before turning to me. "Did you give your food as well?"

Brick went to answer the question on my behalf, I could tell that she was gonna say yes.

"He gav..."

"No, they were all Brick's" I managed to interrupt her, making a split second decision not to tell her. I wasn't exactly sure why I said that I didn't, maybe something about not wanting to get caught, but maybe another reason of not wanting the Viper to think I was doing anything to help her. I didn't really know.

"Hmmph" The Viper sighed. "What's the phrase you humans always use...'A diamond in the rough'?" She turned back towards Brick. "Truly, a phrase built for you. It is a shame that you decide to sail in the same ship as the terrorists here" She hissed.

Brick raised her hand, shaking her head. "No-one deserves to starve" Brick headed back, grabbing a chair and sitting down on it, as Unit 19201648 stayed resting on her tail, looking at both of us intently, still on her bed.

"So...uh...you said earlier, that um...You were here pre-invasion? What have you bee..." I started, thinking of a question to ask the Viper to fill the time, before she interrupted me.

"Are you frightened of me?" She hissed, slipping out from her bed, and making her way over to me. She'd clearly managed to regain full use of her tail, as she was now resting on it and a lot taller than I was. I grabbed my pistol from my holster, holding it in my fingers loose at my side, ready to react if she tried to close the gap anymore.

"Yes, Of course. It would be stupid not to be" I replied cautiously after waiting for a bit, the silence hanging in the air like a stale smell, whilst I kept my eyes on hers. The best way to tell the intentions of anyone is to watch their eyes, I have learned, and it's paid off for me before now, so I believed that it was true.

The Viper smirked at me, I swear the corner of her lips moved up slightly, as her tongue flickered out again. I hadn't heard Brick move, so I assumed she was still sat on the chair watching us. "Good. Were you scared of me when we were fighting?"

I thought about it seriously for a second. While my instinct would be to say yes, I wasn't _as_ scared. It was a different situation, and I had more people around me. But then maybe it was just the adrenaline making me less scared at the time.

"Yes...but I would say not to the same extent" I answered, standing my ground. She drew her face closer to mine, hushing her voice slightly. I heard Brick get up, walking up from behind me, my on finger tensing on my trigger.

"You're probably right. Here I could bind you so easily. It's one of the worst ways to die, you know. Being slowly starved of your own oxygen, while you can't do anything about it" She hissed, as Brick pulled me back away from her, placing herself in between us

"Back off, Snake. I've given you some extra food as a courtesy here, and I've asked nothing in return at all. But I don't think I'll be as inclined to go out of my own way for you if you're gonna continue to threaten Zero here." She diffused, picking up a more defensive tone. I saw the Viper roll her eyes at me, before talking to Brick.

"Fine." She agreed, turning around. "If he has a woman to stand up for him, he can't really defend himself, can he?"

"I'm his friend. I'm standing up for him as his friend, not because he's not able to himself. Me being a woman has nothing to do with it" She smiled, turning back to me, and giving a small two-fingered salute, which I returned. The Viper paused, clearly interested in the gesture we just made.

"What was that?" She hissed, curiosity layered in her voice.

"What? The salute? Just something me and Zero do" She shrugged. "It don't mean anything" She responded colloquially. I could see the Viper squint her eyes slightly at Brick, possibly casting doubt on her. She turned back away proceeding to ignore us, though I'm not exactly sure what she was doing in place of talking to us.

A little time went by without any activity and I started getting bored, so I picked up a remote to the television, turning towards Unit 19201684 to ask to turn it on. She agreed, stating that I could only have it on to 'watch the Advent news network'. With a sigh, I switched it on. The story on already was of our latest mission. I found a chair, pulling it up next to Brick as we watched the TV, which was behind the Viper, who rested on her tail in front of us, also watching the program.

 _"X-com terrorists have struck the same target location that they did yesterday, ending the lives of several more Peacekeepers, including that of our hero Peacekeeper Viper who saved two residents the day before. The building sustained heavy damage in the encounter, and the two humans who resided here that our hero Peacekeeper protected are believed to have been kidnapped. Any information on their location would be appreciated and rewarded. Remember, help us help you, the Advent Peacekeepers are here to keep you safe"_ The cheery female news reporter read aloud.I muted the news, letting it run in the background.

"That hero 'Peacekeeper', was that you?!" I asked incredulously to the Viper.

"Yeah" She smiled slyly, facing back towards me. "Killed four terrorists to protect the two humans. And the transmitter you destroyed, which is what I was patrolling."

"Patrolling? Have you been patrolling there for a while?" I asked, out of curiosity.

"No. I have been moving to different patrols over the last 20 years I have been here. The Elders send me where they need me" She said with pride.

"Do you like the Elders?"

"What sort of question is that?" She retorted. "Of course. They have guided our race, improving us to help us survive, whilst trying to uplift another struggling race into their care" She seemed to smile as she responded. I suppose the 'struggling race' she was referring to was the human race. Most people had given into the Elders, myself included at an earlier point. I couldn't help but feel sad for Unit 19201684, being under a similar brainwashing that my race was under.

"The Elders are killing my race. I wouldn't be able to sit by while they did it" I sighed.

"What do you mean? They've increased the life expectancy of the humans of America. They've modernized your energy infrastructure so you no longer damage your own planet. Your race was going to die on its own accord. They've even provided clinics to help people change defects you have. How can you turn around and throw this back in their faces?" She snapped back, passionate once I had started talking about the Elders.

"The clinics are a lie. They're killing us at a faster rate than we are living in their cities. Their news is propaganda. You know that we didn't kidnap those citizens!"

"Pfft, what are talking about? I've been in one of the clinics and watched them get rid of the defects of your race, I've seen people walking out of those clinics having undergone treatment, clearly happy about their choice. And I was knocked out by you, for all I know you did do that." She said angrily, glaring at me.

"There were no humans by the transmitter!" I countered.

"Maybe it's just a clerical error? They said they were believed to reside there. I didn't see them reside there, so maybe they have just gone for a bit. Maybe they joined your fucking resistance"

"Are you kidding? We can't get people out of a city like that. The Elders and Advent have killed them and used us to disguise it!" I raised my voice from talking to shouting. Brick nudged me, giving me a face that told me to knock it off, to which I sighed to, calming myself again

"The only people the Elders are forced to kill is you and the resistance! Only because you intend to kill us first"

"They aren't forced to kill the resistance. I can understand them fighting back against us 'terrorists' as you call us, but they've wiped groups of civilians off of the map for not living in their cities" I spoke with a measured voice again, trying not to upset the Viper.

"Terrorist propaganda" She snorted, turning her nose up at me. "I'm not here to listen to a two-hour lecture from you telling me I'm wrong, as you spout your bullshit at me." She hissed, turning back towards her bed. "The Elders are helping your race, and you only slow it down."

I didn't argue back, as clearly she wanted the last word. I could understand her position though. It was only a while back that I was under the same illusion, that I too felt hatred for anyone fighting against the brilliance they brought, until I realized it was just a huge guise. They must have all the species that fight against humans all bought with their propaganda, with their smiling news reporters, and constant reinforcement that they are there to help. I sighed, slumping in a chair next to Brick, who was clearly trying to hold back a laugh again.

"Just laugh at me, I know it was a shit attempt" I mumbled, smiling as she snorted through her nose trying to stop the laugh.

"Sorry Zero. Just funny. But uh, don't go doing that again, I think if you rile her up too much like that I won't be able to save you" She winked, grinning back at me afterward. The Viper seemed to be heading off to sleep quite quickly, so I turned the TV off to get rid of the glaring light, and spent the remaining time of my shift talking quietly to Brick, up until it was time to head to my dorm room to sleep. If what Vandal was saying about the Blacksite was true, it was sure going to be interesting tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

(Unit 19201648, 0930 EST 3/31/2035, Location: Unknown)

I woke up to the feeling of my bed shifting quickly underneath me, a few times. I brought myself up to look at the cause of the movement, an X-com soldier was kicking my bed, holding a plate of food in his hands. Toasted bread and beans, by the looks of it, as he sat it on the table by my bed, his gun trained on me as he was walking back to talk with his friend. They didn't seem to be getting the message that I couldn't eat their food, even with the full plates I was sending back, they would just send more 'leftovers' to me. Maybe that was their game plan all along, to starve me out. I suppose I was gonna have to rely on the handouts from Brick, if she was on guard again today, more than likely with the irritating Sniper she was on guard with the previous times. He had some nerve to start spouting his crap at me yesterday, going on about how my leaders were lying, practically questioning my loyalty to them.

I shook the thoughts out of my head, the last thing I wanted to be doing was thinking of a pest at this point in time. I was notified last night, after Brick and Zero left, that I was going to undergo interrogations with 'Central Officer Bradford', the man who wore the gray vest when I first woke up. My mind had already gone over all the possibilities of what a terrorist interrogation would consist of, trying to mentally prepare myself for anything they could throw at me. Starvation was one method that instantly came to mind, especially again now, with my stomach grumbling in protest at the lack of food. But then also the possibility of trying to get someone close to me to extract information, almost like good cop bad cop, so I had my eye on Brick, even if she was giving me food. But for some reason, I don't think that they were planning on inflicting physical harm. It would seem more obvious, but then it didn't make sense that they would use their healing resources on me, only to cut me open again. I don't know, really, I can only guess at what it will consist of.

While I've been here, soldiers have often given me hostile looks, keeping their weapons on me with their fingers hovering over the triggers, as if at any point they were going to shoot for any reason. I can understand distrust in me, sure, but the hostility towards me was constant, yet I did not understand why. I thoroughly believe that just being an Alien looked to be a good enough reason to be shot here. I was constantly trying to gauge which soldiers would react badly towards me, so I could avoid pissing off those particular ones, except it ended up being pretty much all of them that fell under this category, so I avoided doing anything where I could. But I wasn't that bored here. I am relatively used to long silences, having been on patrols for a large portion of my life with little company, means that I wasn't struggling with ignoring most of the soldiers here, or being ignored by them. I was just quite used to having to be with my own thoughts. One thought I had to explain some of the looks they gave to me was exposure. If some of them have never come across many or any Alien species in their time on Earth, I could slightly empathize with their glances, I could see why Aliens looks kind of scary. Especially the Sectoids, with their huge eyes mixed with their exposed teeth resembled their symbols for death slightly. Certainly, for a few of them though, it was the loss of their friend, who was trying to kill me anyway. Only Brick seemed to understand the hypocrisy of this sentiment

Another thought that had been dwelling with me recently was the two humans I had protected before I was captured. If what Zero said was true, then the facts of the situation implicated Advent quite badly. I saw them be taken on the ship away from the place, for the medical checkup. If they went missing afterward, it was unlikely for them to be in the area, as Zero argued. So maybe they were part of the resistance after all? Undercover to try and scout the place out? They might just be staying with a relative or something in the time being. There's no way that they were killed when they went for the checkup like Zero suggested. The idea was preposterous. Look at me, I'm still thinking about the Sniper...

"Idiot" I mumbled, lashing my tail against the bed frame, causing it to shake, and the two soldiers to raise their weapons to me reactively. I gave them my best poker face in return, before they continued to talk to each other. I suspected since my morning meal was delivered quite early, that my interrogation might start rather soon. Usually, my meal came in a little later than it did today, so something was up. Indeed, it didn't take long before my suspicions were verified. In walked Bradford, gun on belt, with his rigid stride, and two soldiers at his side. He pulled a chair into the middle of the room, as the soldiers moved a table, all while he watched me sitting on my bed.

"Sit" He beckoned, his palm outstretched towards the empty chair. I grabbed the blanket off of the bed and made my way towards the chair.

"Without, the duvet..." He said slowly, with an authoritative voice.

"I'll get cold" I stated, still holding on the duvet. He shook his head, his eyes closed as he made the gesture. Stood at the table, either side of my chair were the two soldiers who entered with Bradford. I suppose they didn't want me face to face alone with their superior, which made sense.

"Well then let's be quick. Then you can get back into your bed" He replied, rather condescendingly. I rolled my eyes quickly, dropping the duvet on the floor to my side, and sat down in the chair. The chair was rather uncomfortable, with no padding, just the wood, and it wasn't that big either. I shuffled several times, trying to sit on my tail in a way that made it more comfortable before Bradford interrupted me by clearing his throat.

"Alright, that's enough. We will begin the interrogation session now. It is being recorded," He pointed towards the two cameras either side of the room. "To ensure that I carry out this interrogation professionally. I trust that you have found the conditions you are in acceptable?"

I scoffed at his words. "What conditions? The room is nice, sure. But the place is freezing, and I've not had any food I am able to eat since I have arrived" I complained. Bradford himself wasn't sat down, but instead paced the other side of the table. I had to admit, with the 5 of them in the room, I felt quite intimidated, I even considered not complaining about my captivity for a second due to their large presence. But my rumbling stomach was quick to remind me to bring it up. I saw his eyes squint slightly before he answered.

"Most would consider a good standard bed, large room, tv and wet room to be good conditions to be held captive in. Also, bear in mind we have tended to your wounds, and provided regular meals to you, which you are still refusing to eat.

"I'm refusing to eat it, because it would make me ill, my body won't be able to digest it" I spoke slowly, condescendingly back to him, to get back at him slightly for his patronization towards me earlier.

"I will consult Doctor Tygan about it in that case. But for now, I can't change the arrangements." He nodded. A wave of happiness washed over inside of me. It sounded like he just relented to actually giving me food. I'm rather glad that starvation wasn't the sort of strategy they were going with.

"Well, let us begin, in that case. What's your name?"

"Unit 19201648" I replied, as he jotted down a line on some paper he was holding. It looked to be just some paper on a clipboard, rather than a notebook of any type, most likely just filling int he personal information.

Bradford spent the time asking me a lot about the Elders, asking me about Advent projects, particularly their gene clinics, or their soldiers. While the questioning went on for a while about these subjects, it was only him trying to repeat the questions and phrase them in different ways, but I just didn't know anything about what he was asking.

"Okay. We'll go back over the events that led up to your capture. On the day before your capture, an assault led by resistance operative was made on the building you were guarding. Were you here at this point?" He questioned, his voice never faltering or skipping a beat. I had had enough to think about what I was going to do within the interview. I didn't want to give any information away that could possibly help them, but I felt okay to release information that was otherwise useless to them.

"Yes"

"How long were you stationed here?"

"2 weeks" I said blankly, watching him write stuff down on the same piece of paper. I was only surprised that he deemed any of these responses worthy of noting down.

"And who stationed you here?" He asked. I felt a little disarmed. I didn't expect that line of questioning at all. I wondered briefly if they were aware of my Matriarch, and if revealing her to them, would that make her a target?

"I was ordered to by Advent" I replied, keeping the same composure I had previously. The man jotted more notes down, glancing back up to me repeatedly as he did so, before leaning one of his arms on the table.

"Who in Advent?" He asked. I panicked slightly. I didn't know any sort of authority in Advent. If it wasn't just a blanket wide statement, then who passed on their orders? As far as I was aware it all came from some sort of central communications. I think...

"Um...I'm not going to tell" I hissed, thinking I had managed to dodge the bullet. Central Bradford seemed to just stare at me as if trying to judge my face.

"19210648, I think you're not going to tell me, because what you tell me is not the truth. I will ask again. Who stationed you in city A135?" He asked, calmly. I was taken aback slightly, he had called my bluff just after I made it. I didn't think I made it that obvious.

"I...I was given the orders by an Advent Captain. They receive the communications, not me" I stuttered, trying to persevere with my lie.

"Then how were you able to relay for reinforcements after the initial attack?" I shivered again, half out of being cold, half from the questions. His face was deadpan as he asked the questions, rifling them off quickly, whilst judging me for if I was being truthful. Was there a way to avoid this question?

"At the transmission tower, there was a communications relay that I was able to use" I answered immediately. He shook his head, seeming to cross something off of the paper he was holding. I took two deep breaths, my side aching slightly as I did so, along the scar, and I shifted my tail to try and find another more comfortable position, as he lined up another question.

"Are you and your species part of the Advent administration?"

I thought about the question for a second. While I was to follow orders given to me by Advent, I wasn't part of Advent. I guess I didn't see the harm in letting him know. "No, I'm not. My species is separate"

"Then why do your species follow orders from Advent?"

"My species are loyal to the Elders. The Elders work with the Advent administration to preserve peace on this planet, so to follow our orders from Advent is to follow the will of the Elders" I answered quickly. It almost sounded like I was reciting it. I think I may finally be making him buy it.

"Then, if your species is loyal to the Elders, who rules your species?" he asked, much more nonchalantly than his other questions.

"No-one" I answered rapidly, before he shook his head. He looked up from his clipboard, his eyes piercing me, trying to figure me out.

"I don't buy that, not one bit. Do you have a King? A Queen?" He pressed. "Some sort of democratic ruler?"

"No. Our species serve the Elders" I shook my head. I heard my voice falter slightly, and I bit my own tongue as I cursed myself in my head. The lack of food was really getting to me. As I began to panic, I took more notice of the four guns all being pointed at me, and that with the intimidating glaring of Bradford starting to bore into me, a slight fear washing over me and paralyzing me somewhat.

"But they don't communicate with you, do they?" He asked again, circling back to the beginning. He pulled something out of his pocket, a small key of some sort. "Do you know what this is?" He asked. I shook my head as a response, too hurriedly for my own liking. "It's a small chip that connects Advent troops to their network. This is how they communicate with each other so well. If you snakes were subservient to Advent as you say, then your species would have chips in their heads, yet you have none. So tell me, who was giving you orders to be stationed here!" He had raised his voice, leaning over the desk towards me as I shrank away from him.

"I..." I paused, shaking my head. "My species has a leader" I relented, sighing dejectedly, and putting my head in my hands. I was a failure to my own species, I had just given up a valuable bit of information that now makes my Matriarch a possible target for terrorists.

"Thank you, wasn't so hard now was it?" He asked, writing on the paper again, flipping over to a fresh sheet to continue again. "Where is your leader stationed?"

"I don't know. I've constantly gone on patrols, not to meet with my own species" I answered truthfully. He narrowed his eyes once more, I felt his judgment wash across me.

"That's not true, is it? You would have gone home at some point. Where is it based?" He pressed

"I...I don't know! I've been on patrols under command of Advent, that was relayed to me by my leader" I shrugged. He relented slightly, probably deciding that he wasn't going to get the information, but still treated me as if I was lying, even though I legitimately had no clue. Bradford paused, flicking through pieces of paper attached to his clipboard, giving me a few seconds to recompose myself.

"Alright. During the battle against X-com, after neutralizing all other hostiles, you took one of ours as a temporary hostage. You threatened to shoot him if we came closer. Why did you spare him and take him hostage instead?

I took a moment, still trying to breathe to release myself from the pressure just on me. "I threatened to kill him to escape with my life. The objective was already destroyed, yet I would be killed if I was found" I stated, staring down at the table.

"This is not something we've witnessed before though"

"It's because we're ordered to fight no matter the odds, to take as many terrorists to their graves as they do to us," I sighed. "I didn't want to die though, I was outnumbered. And I still killed one regardless, and it was almost two"

The Central Officer paused, his cold stare unchanging before he again wrote more down onto the paper.

"Alright, before we begin the next portion of the interrogation, I wanted to point out that over your time here, I have seen you rile up several of our soldiers. This isn't a question. Stop doing it. Not because I'm telling you to, but because I won't be able to stop them shooting you full of bullets, nor would I blame them. If you say you don't want to die, then don't give them a reason to kill you," He warned, his voice still coarse and deep, as he gave me the advice that sounded more like an order. "And I am fully aware that you can kill them too. I'm aware that you could kill me. But I know you are smart enough not to do something so outright stupid. But don't give them the means to be able to kill you" He paused, standing up from the desk with the paper in one hand by his side, just looking at me. I purposely avoided his stare, looking at anything else in the room.

"Okay. Would your actions taken have made you be punished by Advent or your species?" He asked. Truthfully, I had no idea. In all my years of patrolling, I had never had to fight, nor did I see one.

"I don't know. I would be transferred, probably" I shrugged. I saw him flick over another page, studying the page intently. It seemed to be a piece of paper that already had information down on it, and he may have been comparing it, I wasn't sure.

Before he could finish reading, and continue with the investigation, someone burst into the door of the dorm.

"Central! Come quickly, the Commander requires you at the Bridge. Our base in Western America is under attack by Advent forces!" The man yelled. I could see the kevlar armor adorning his body, the weapon holstered across his back. Was he ready to go into the field?

"Shit" He cursed, giving his clipboard to one of the soldiers behind me. "Get Zero and Brick here to guard, and Deadbolt and Angel on door duty. You two, come with me" He stood up straight, pointing towards the two soldiers that had been guarding me since when I woke up. They nodded, racing out of the door before Bradford could make it there himself. The two soldiers that had entered with him waited near the door, obviously waiting for new people to show up. With a shudder, I felt the whole ship start to take off, as I got out of the chair I was still sat in, slightly shocked with the speed at which everyone had left the room in. I wonder what was happening?

* * *

(Corporal 'Zero', 1041 EST 3/31/2035, location: near Western America resistance camps)

The ship shuddered heavily as I left the breakfast hall with Brick and Goblin, almost causing me to stumble into the cafeteria door on my way out. Breakfast was relatively quiet, with Brick trying to fill the gaps by talking about her gun. For the last half an hour, she had been going on about what she was planning for a paint job on her gun, affectionately called 'Betsy', and what kind of modifications she could put on it to improve it.

"...I mean, while I have always wanted to paint one of my guns blue with a striped pattern, there's just something about Betsy that screams pink, like a dull kind so it's not completely bright, but one that still gives her a few nice highlights, maybe with a tech-y finish, you know, like faded squares as the pattern? That would be awesome, and it would totally go with my new black armor if I made the squares a black color also. I'd have to get Deadbolt to paint it for me, have you seen his old rifle? Haven't seen anything anywhere near as good" She spouted, an endless stream of words coming from her mouth. It may sound hard to believe, but the topic that got us into the conversation of her gun was, in fact, talking about the Black site mission, and the possibility of Brick going on it.

Throughout lunch, apart from Brick speaking for the majority of the time, Goblin had stayed a bit more quiet than usual. I could only imagine it was still because of him mourning slightly for Alphabet. The thoughts escaped my mind from time to time, especially when I was around with others, but I was glad for Brick to fill the silence, as during silence the battle and Alphabet was all I was really thinking about, mixed with the occasional sentiment of home. I think Goblin was quite close to Alphabet, so I could imagine it was taking quite a toll on him.

"Goblin, good that I found you. We need you for a mission, quickly!" A soldier grabbed Goblin's shoulder from behind us, as we all turned around to look at him. He already had his kevlar armor on, his shotgun holstered across his back, with the grenade against his hip. It was rare to see anybody dressed for a mission not in the briefing room, so the mission was obviously going to be very soon.

"Oh, cool, Goblin you're assaulting the Black site," I said with a smile at him, as he shrugged at me, a grin plastered to his face. "Don't have too much fun"

"Actually, I don't think it's the Black site. You two need to report to watch the Viper" The soldier responded, as he started pulling on Goblin's shoulder to ease him in the correct direction of travel. I saw his face turn from a grin to a confused glance, before he headed off.

Brick and I made haste towards the dorm rooms, passing by another three soldiers on the way down, two with their weapons but no armor, and one in their kevlar, all ready. The Commander must have increased the squad size in preparation for the Black site, maybe? Except this was apparently not the Black site mission. Brick had stopped her chatter about her gun, instead opting for silence. There hadn't been any meat for breakfast today, so the snake wasn't getting anything new from us this time. We hadn't been expecting to watch over her until tomorrow anyway, which was when our shift was scheduled. I don't think they would move it later though, just because we had to watch her today as well.

We entered the room, to see the Viper sat at the chair in the middle of the room, turned around to face us, the solitary light hanging overhead. Two soldiers who were stationed either side of the door filtered out of the room, and past the two standing guard on the outside.

"What's going on?" The Viper called to us. We must have looked like a couple of deer in headlights, as we just stood there unsure of how to answer.

"I'll tell you when I know" Brick responded, twitching the TV on and cycling through the channels. "What's with the setup?" she turned towards the Viper.

"Interrogation" She responded meekly, getting out of the seat and picking up a duvet on the floor, wrapping it promptly around herself. She quickly headed off for the same bed she was by yesterday, coiling herself on top of the mattress, the duvet covering her.

"I suppose it's good that the Commander has found a use for you then," I said with a shrug, standing by Brick and glancing up at the screen away from the Viper as Brick kept switching between channels. I could hear the Viper open her mouth to respond back to me, but I interrupted the conversation myself by speaking to Brick.

"Hang on, go back, what was that?" I asked, seeing the speaker for Advent flash up on one of the news channels. It was already halfway through his speech, as he addressed both crowds and television viewers alike. Even the Viper seemed to have some interest for this.

" _Fellow citizens, for 20 years the Advent coalition has worked tirelessly to repair the ravages and injustices of the old world. Under our stewardship our cities prosper, our people flourish, and our world..."_ The Speaker seemed to recite the words, as if memorised perfectly.

"Eh, I'm not really feeling listening to him right now" I joked, earning a slight laugh from Brick. The speech cut out as Brick switched to another channel, which was previously black, now showing images of red Advent dropships hovering over a cluster of houses. It took a few seconds before either of us reacted, finally realizing what it was.

"No..." Brick gasped, as the doors of the big dropships opened slowly, as soldiers lined themselves up along the open part of the ships, and out of them came a hailstorm of rounds from Advent troops, aimed directly at the houses below. Down on the ground, running out from their houses and scattering from the town you could just make out people running for their lives. Our camera was too high up at the moment to get an image that truly showed what was happening, but it was already clear enough. The whole ship shuddered again, indicating that we had landed.

"Shit...is that the resistance camp?" She shook her head in disbelief.

"Yeah, it is...I don't know which camp though..." I replied, crestfallen at the scene of destruction on the screen.

"Good riddance..." I heard the Viper half mumble under her voice. I snapped my head to face her, shooting her a filthy look.

"Shut up, will you?" I growled, turning to face the screen again. The Skyranger must have already be deployed, as our camera was able to get closer to the ground. The Advent troops were jumping down from their ships, and you could make out the people on the ground a lot better. Brick and I gasped again, both of our mouths hanging open as we saw homes being destroyed by the gunfire from ships, buildings ablaze and collapsing, and people being shot down as they ran from Advent. I glanced back down towards the Viper, who no longer held the amused face she was wearing a second earlier.

Our troops got on the ground, a team of 5 indeed. The camera panned around the surrounding area, fire illuminating the destruction and death. It picked up the image of a man cowering against a fence from an Advent trooper, who stood over him for a second before putting a round through his head and moving on.

"How can they do this?" Brick asked desperately, her question remaining unanswered as we onlooked. The 5 soldiers moved up, and quickly dispatched of a stun lancer and a trooper, Goblin and a second Ranger flanking both of them quickly to take them out, passing by civilians as they pushed further up. All of the houses burned around them, some were collapsing, littering the fields with debris, often on fire, items that used to be wooden stalls were now smoldering crisps on the floor, trees that may have once stood tall now splintered, throwing large branches down to the floor as they burned. The team took out another squad of Aliens quickly and efficiently, using grenades to destroy the covers of a Sectoid and trooper, leaving them open to hits from the Rangers, before heading up to a pair of houses, both ablaze, people scattering towards them from that direction. Goblin was at the front, leading the assault, as they ran into two more squads of Sectoids, and Captains and Troopers. Our soldiers were quickly pinned down behind cover by the enemy fire.

"They're too slow...they need to hurry up..." I whispered. Brick's hand grabbed for mine, squeezing tightly and uncomfortably onto my palm, but I ignored it. Several of the villagers still hid in cover from the fight, unsure of where to go.

With horror, I watched as one of the troopers turned around, running towards one of the civilians, a kid, most likely barely in her teens, despite the fact that there was an overwatch reaction shot against him, despite that he was in a fight with the X-com soldiers, he ran and gunned down the girl, her lifeless corpse collapsing the other side of the fence.

"What?! What?!" I yelled, not believing what I was witnessing. "He just shot a girl! They are targeting the civilians over our own troops!" I called out, squeezing back onto Brick's hand now. My eyes were watering, and I wanted to rub the tears away before they formed, but I couldn't stop looking, my wide eyes glued to the screen, and the water started dripping onto my cheek as all I could do was stand and watch as our resistance haven was destroyed by Advent.

On the screen, the camera identified Goblin running around the back of their ranks, gunning down a Sectoid and captain, before slashing at the other Sectoid, killing all three, as the Sniper on the team and the Grenadier took out the remaining two troopers with their rifle and grenade respectively. They pushed up into a final house, containing multiple civilians. Goblin and the Grenadier raced into the building, extracting one of the civilians from the first floor and moving onto the second. I felt relief wash over me briefly, as the cameras picked up no remaining Advent forces in the area. But just as Goblin and the Grenadier turned their backs, I saw the body of the last man mutate, transform, and contort into a large, sticky mound of substance, as it raced past them, and running straight down to a woman, who was trying desperately to crawl away from the monster, having just tripped on the floor. The creature drew his massive arm back, swiping at the woman. Before he could make contact and kill the lady, Goblin charged in from his back, placing two shots in the back of the monster, which fell, squirting a jelly that was a disgusting shade of pink absolutely everywhere.

"What the fuck was that..." Brick whispered, letting her hand fall from mine. I looked over towards her forlorn face, tears also budding at her eyes as she shook her head side to side minutely, and slowly. The screen showed our troops rescuing all the civilians they could before they headed for evacuation. Brick turned the screen off, staring into the black screen for a solid five seconds, before lowering herself onto the bed the opposite side of the room to the Viper, running her hands through her hair.

I glanced towards Unit 19201648, who was staring at Brick with softened eyes, her expression was hard to describe, but I could just about tell that she was feeling sympathy for us. The Viper spotted me as I briefly looked at her, and she turned her head down away from me and to the side. I headed over to Brick, rubbing the tear marks from my face with my hands, and digging my fingers into the corners of my eyes to get rid of the water remaining in them.

"Hang on, I need a moment..." Brick mumbled, almost whispering, rubbing her face with her hand, and then with her sleeve, sniffing as she did so. I sat down next to her, wrapping my right arm around her back, as she let her head fall to my shoulder. It felt odd to have somebody both bigger and heavier than me using my shoulder to support their weight, and it was making my arm quite numb, but I put my small pain aside for her.

"I can't believe they did that..." She mumbled. "They just...shot people..." Her voice was laden with disbelief, as if she didn't want to believe what had just happened.

"I'm glad the Commander responded when he did" I said with a sigh, dreading the thought of if the Commander had left for the haven just half a minute later, it could have meant the difference of several lives. It's not like the residents at the haven were militant or anything similar, but mostly comprised of people who wished to live outside of Advent rule. But because they sided with the resistance, it made them just as much a target. What was most horrifying was the fact that their soldiers were moving to get a better shot at the unarmed targets than the ones actually shooting at them. Was it a strike to attack so called terrorists, or to strike terror to the people of the resistance?

I pulled out of my hug quickly as I heard a slight 'slithering' sound, the sound of the Viper's body moving across the floor, pushing Brick up with my right hand while my left pulled my pistol up to face the Viper, who was about halfway across the room to us. My left hand couldn't support the gun that well, and the gun was swaying around a bit, but it was pointing at her enough. I got up from the bed, switching hands as I kept my gun trained on her. She placed open palms in front of her body, and lowered her head slightly, stopping her movement.

"If you're going to offer your opinion to us, don't. I think I might actually shoot you" I warned, glancing down to Brick, still sat on the bed, her normally straight posture now reduced to a slump as she held her hands together at her front.

"No, no" The Viper was quick to try and reassure me. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I didn't know Advent would attack people like that. That they would shoot unarmed resistance members without a reason to..." She continued.

"Shut up!" I yelled at her to interrupt her sentence, thrusting my pistol forwards with both hands. "I told you not to give me your opinion. I don't want to hear whatever you have to say on it" I could hear the anger in my voice, my lip twitching and my jaw clenching up. My finger itched across the trigger as I walked slowly towards her, as Unit 19201648 backed off, turning back towards where she was lying earlier. Brick had stood up and was to the side of me now, as I lowered my pistol, holstering it again.

"You shouldn't be so angry at the Viper. She seems remorseful about the situation" Brick said quietly to me, sadness still in her voice.

"I just don't want to hear her at the moment. I don't want to listen to her say that she's sorry for these people because she isn't. Because both you and I know that she doesn't care for humans if they are 'terrorists'. Don't think for a second that if she was told to she wouldn't do the same as all of their troops today" I grumbled back, keeping my eye on the Viper. I could see her protest in her eyes, in her mouth, the way she stared at me. Brick stayed silent in response, maybe unsure of what to say.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 1057 EST 3/31/2035, location: Western America resistance camps)

I sat down on my bed trying to figure out the Sniper as he maintained his eye contact with me, barely blinking. I would have thought from earlier that he would have been eager to jump at the opportunity to tell me why Advent was a lie, but he was just angry. I'll admit that when they first said that the resistance camp was being attacked by Advent, that I was happy to see them finally apprehended. But watching the same video as they did, I could see the numerous scared people running from the gunfire being killed. People who I had no idea what they had done, some who have probably never done anything other than live there in the camp. They weren't fighting back, they were just running. It was not what I thought Advent stood for, it was not what I thought the Elders permitted. But then if they hadn't killed them, these people may have grown to become terrorists themselves, and killed many more of us. That was the reason why they were killed, right?

But even when I tried to offer my condolences, all I got for my trouble was a gun pointing at my face again. And the usually chirpy soldier, Brick, was instead dismal and upset, it was obvious in the way she held her body alone, but her reddened eyes, her frown, and her tone of voice all helped solidify this. By both of their expressions, I felt the best thing to do would to stay where I was, and leave them alone.

Almost an hour went by, without any words between any of us, only glances between Brick and Zero repeatedly, as if to reassure the other that they were okay, but otherwise Zero kept his eyes on me, but I couldn't tell if he was actually looking _at_ me. Just the way he held his gaze looked almost as if he was looking at something past me, maybe in a daydream or something similar. The sound of the door opening broke the silence, as both of their heads snapped to the door. The larger, bald man walked in, the one they called Goblin.

"Hi, guys. Did you see the mission?" He asked, seemingly oblivious to their expressions. The both nodded rather sullenly, as Goblin glanced towards me. I immediately darted my eyes away from him as he looked at me, not wanting any conflict with him. He instead walked towards Brick, who was still slouched slightly, holding her gun loosely.

"I can't believe that they did that. It's not something I've ever seen from them before" He sighed.

"Yeah, we know. You did really well though, you had a great mission" Zero complimented, maybe trying to focus on the more positive things.

"Thanks. It was really terrifying down there, you know? There was fire everywhere, and it was dark at the same time. You couldn't see where the shots were coming from, I was scared I might have started panicking. And did you see them? They were trying to shoot at the civilians before us! It's horrific" He replied. His demeanor was slightly chirpier than that of Brick and Zero, and it seemed to help pick them up a bit.

"And that beast that you came across, that was scary" Brick nodded in agreement with Goblin. I remember seeing that on the screen, the creature who didn't seem to have a shape or structure to it. The one that was perfectly disguised as a human. I had never seen anything like it in the 20 years I had been patrolling.

"That thing was one of the humans, before it transformed, right? It's scary knowing that any of the civilians we rescue have a chance to just be an Alien in disguise." Goblin replied. "What did the Snake think of the mission?" He asked, glancing over towards me, causing the others to also look in my direction. Whilst his voice carried no discernable emotion, I could see the resentment in his eyes, still angry at me.

"Don't know. I told her to shut up when she was trying to say something afterward. I didn't want her trying to justify 'why the Elders ordered this'" Zero shrugged, seeming to mock me, looking back towards Goblin.

"Heh, nice" He seemed to almost chuckle, heading over towards me. I felt my body tense up as he ambled over slowly, holding his shotgun across his chest. I saw Brick purse her lips slightly in anticipation of what Goblin was going to do, whilst Zero just watched.

"So you watched the entire thing? You must have loved watching the Advent troops try and burn a village full of families to the ground. Loved watching them shoot at the 'terrorists', as you call them, while they ran" He said with thinly veiled anger. I shook my head slowly whilst maintaining eye contact with him.

"Really?" he asked in disbelief, he dropped his gun lower and took another step forward, so he was at the end of my bunk.

"Yes. I've never seen any Advent shoot an unarmed person before" I admitted, holding my ground.

"So you're saying that this wrong? That you, if you were told by the Elders themselves that you wouldn't be one of those to storm a camp of families?" His pitch grew a bit higher. I thought about the question seriously for a while. I didn't like what I had just seen, and I had never known any Advent troops to go out of their way to kill civilians. But at the same time, I didn't truly know if I would do the same if I was asked by the Elders. If they asked me to do the task, they must have a good reason for it, and it was not my place to question it, so I suppose it could easily have been me to be on that attack...

"I think it's wrong. But the Elders have a reason behind it. If it is their will, there is a reason. And the resistance members must know what they sign up for when they abandon Advent in favor of terrorists?" I asked, trying to justify why the attack occurred. I knew inside that it was no use, but I don't think it was them I was trying to convince.

"Are you for real?" Zero interjected. "You say it is wrong but you're completely fine with it otherwise? This is what I meant Brick, she doesn't feel remorse for these people, she's just sorry you had to see it" He glanced back towards Brick as he spoke. Brick was still sat on her bed, not offering her voice to them. I started to feel scared, realizing that if Brick wasn't there to diffuse the situation, I could easily find myself staring down a gun barrel for the third time in three days, but I might not be too lucky this time around. I had to watch my words more.

Goblin shook his head at me, turning away and leaving me alone. I let air that I hadn't realized I had held for so long out of my lungs, still wary of the humans in the room. Goblin grabbed the remote for the TV again, the familiar stage with the Advent news network on it, a female human presenter with curt brown hair and plenty of 'make-up' on, something they put on themselves to make them look better. The story showed a picture of the burning resistance camps on the television, as the presenter read out the story.

"Today, X-com dissidents attacked several Peacekeeper patrols around outer border areas, resulting in the deaths of several Peacekeepers, and civilians. The administration is holding a minute silence this afternoon to remember the lives lost. Remember, together, we are stronger, together we can build a better future" She read out, the pearly white smile never leaving her face.

"Ha, they're playing it off as our fault now, look" Goblin shook his head again. "If only we could make them see what we see" He turned around to watch me. I caught his gaze and immediately looked away. I saw it for myself, I saw Advent attack that camp. Then I saw them try and give credit to X-com, which I knew wasn't the case. The news team must have seen the bodies of the Advent forces and pieced it together that way. But I couldn't stop my thoughts of questioning Advent, questioning whether it was news or propaganda, as hard as I tried. They were bad thoughts, that I shouldn't be having.

"Do you see this?" He asked, his voice harsh, but not angry. "This is how they brainwash people into thinking the wrong things. And they've done it for the past 20 years, mindfucking everyone into thinking that Advent is the best thing to happen to them since...since anything!" He fumbled over his analogy. "Do you see it now, Snake?"

I looked to Brick to appeal for help, but saw her staring at blankly at the wall directly in front of her, just continuing to live in a small world of her own for a bit. Zero was looking at me in a similar way to Goblin, with resentment, impatience.

"The news station must have seen the bodies you killed and interpreted it wrong. The Elders would have a reason to have attacked that camp like that." I persisted.

"You really do have the brain of a fucking Snake. You must see through a completely different lens to be able to interpret what just happened in favor of Advent, you're just as brainwashed as the people under Advent control. You might as well have a Sectoid telling you what to say in your head. In some way, I feel kind of sorry that you actually think like that" He said, his voice threatening and pitiless.

I deflated, curling under the duvet and pulling it over my head so I didn't have to look at them. I could hear Goblin continue to complain about me, before I heard Brick tell him to leave me alone, though her voice sounded a lot weaker than usual. I tuned out their voices, burying my head underneath the pillow, enough of a gap for me to breathe, even if the air felt humid and warm. All the time the battle replayed in my head from the screen, watching that little girl being shot by the trooper...There must have been a reason that they were sent there. There must have.

I was woken up later by a male voice calling 'Viper' repeatedly. I must have fallen asleep thinking about the resistance camp, as the voice had seemed to integrate it into the dream I was having. I was down at the camps, buildings around me lit up on fire, illuminating the sky above me, as I felt the heat on my scales, but I moved forward, with my beam rifle in my hands. I couldn't control myself, but I could see, hear and feel everything, from the heat radiating from the houses to the screaming surrounding the area. I came to a stop, as a small girl stood in front of me. I couldn't control myself, but my rifle leveled at her, as her tiny blue eyes filled with fear. 'Viper!' A call had come from behind me. I turned around, I couldn't see anyone. 'Viper!' the call came again, at which point I startled awake, taking in a deep breath of air that I didn't have, as my head was still underneath my pillow.

I ripped my head from underneath the pillow, turning to face the voice. It was the Sniper, at the side of my bed, holding something in his hands. My eyes adjusted quickly, as he placed down what was a small plate of food on the table beside my bed. Again, it was more stuff that I would only find inedible, a sandwich, is what I believed they were called, except with only cheese as a filling. I watched as he turned away, heading over to the other side of the room back with Brick again, but I couldn't see the third member of their party anywhere. Brick seemed to have cheered up a little, her frown removed from her face and her charismatic resting smile adorned her face once more.

"Hey, what time is it?" I asked as the Sniper turned back around, who pulled out a small device from his pocket. It must have been a pocket clock or something similar.

"It's currently 1:45," He replied, putting his device back in his pocket. He began to turn away again, but faced me once more, his hand reaching up to rub his neck. "Um...Look, I'm sorry. About earlier. I was angry...and I took it out on you. I just...needed to say that" He sighed, avoiding my gaze. I was caught off guard by his apology, I didn't really know how to react, and my mind hadn't fully caught up yet to the real world.

"It's...fine, really" I hissed back, seeing him give the faintest of smiles in return.

"Thanks. Sorry that there's no meat for you. There wasn't any at lunch anyway, not that we've eaten yet" He replied, pausing briefly halfway through his sentence. His left hand still rested on the handle of his gun, though it was on his holster.

"I thought you didn't care what I ate. You know, the part about you not giving me any meat, only Brick?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"No, I didn't...it's just..." he tried to explain quickly. "I thought you would get something, not nothing" He paused as if waiting for me to say something in response, before he began again.

"Brick and I are heading off shortly, I just kind of wanted to make sure you were, you know, alright"

"I'm fine" I responded, not giving the question a second thought, as I put my head back down to the pillow, listening to him walk away back over to Brick, and hearing them return to talking. At this rate, I was just going to get hungrier and hungrier, I wouldn't be surprised if I just started hallucinating. I decided that if I was going to be questioned again later, that they were going to have to give me food to eat first, proper food. Like chicken, one of the humans' favorite meat products. I too found a penchant for it when I first tasted it on this planet. But I haven't had it in years, so I would be ecstatic if I was able to get some here, even if it was only a little bit.

Before I could get back off to sleep, as I could feel my drowsiness returning to me again, the ship shuddered again, which I believed was it taking off. I guess there was no more reason to stay in the area now that they had saved what was left of the camp. But the ship shuddering only startled me briefly out of my tiredness, as my eyelids quickly grew heavy again, begging me for rest.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

(Corporal 'Zero', 0630 EST 4/1/2035, Location: Near city B011)

"Zero, let's go! We got a mission!" The familiar loud voice called into my room from the corridor again.

Groaning as I slowly got out of bed, I headed straight for the bathroom, hand on head as I adjusted to being awake again. I splashed the ice cold water from the sink on my face, and then drying my hands and face in the towel quickly, before rushing back towards my bed, getting out my gear. I was excited to go on another mission, eager to get a little payback for our camps that were burned by Advent, and also because Brick was coming along again. It seems that the Commander intends on making a team out of me and Brick, maybe because we worked well together, or maybe just cause we got along well. I grabbed my phone, checking the time quickly, despite the fact it still had no bearing on what the time was outside. I guess it was a force of habit. I quickly tied around the red neckerchief,

I quickly tied my red neckerchief around my neck, before I rushed out the door to the complaints from the three others in my room as the light filled the room momentarily before the door closed behind me. I dashed down to the briefing room again, ignoring the slight hunger in my stomach. Without breakfast, I was gonna be quite hungry by the time I came back, hopefully in time to grab breakfast. I continued down the hallways of the ship, not passing anyone, as I don't think anyone was awake at the moment. I entered the squad room, heading over to my gear immediately, where Brick was just finishing off gearing up.

"Morning Zero" She smiled at me, as she placed two hand grenades on her utility belt, and turning around to face me, with a brand new gun in hand.

"So, whaddaya think about the new guns?" She asked, with a big grin plastered on her face, from ear to ear. In front of her, she held what looked like her normal canon, except it was white and black, with yellow wires sticking around the sides, and underneath the barrel, and the barrel was also surrounded by what looked like a sort of frame, almost like support scaffolding to the gun. It looked very easy to hold regardless, with three different handles on it, all with plenty of rubber on them.

I looked the gun over a few times, trying to decide whether it looked cool or not. The nozzle was divided into four separate barrels, as opposed to the 3 of the normal canon as well. "Wow...what is it?" I asked, still clueless as to what else made it a new weapon.

"It's the mag weapons, Zero! They've arrived!" She punched my arm, before turning me back to my station. I can't believe I'd completely missed it when I first got here, but on the wall lay my new weapon, fresh of attachments, but in a similar style to Brick's mag canon, and a longer barrel, with wires around the side. I picked it up off of the wall, admiring it myself. It was much lighter than my previous rifle and just felt more comfortable to hold in general. I let out a whistle in amazement of the design.

"Dr. Tygan made these?" I asked in wonder, still admiring my new weapon. I grabbed a new scope from the weapon mods storage container, fixing it easily onto the top, where it just slid on and clicked into place.

"Yup. Finished the designs yesterday, I think. Shen's been working on them all night" Brick loaded up her final clips, grabbing her canon in one hand and heading to the next room. "Come on! I'm not waiting for you all day" She called back as she left through the door. I grabbed my sniper rifle, taking a couple of seconds to drool over the mag pistol that accompanied it, holstering both, and taking a grenade with me, and heading through to the briefing room. Bradford was already stood in front of the squad of five, including me, ready to read out the mission briefing. I noticed Angel, and two other women I had not spoken to before.

"Alright, you can sort out introductions later," He began, as I found a seat. "We've got a lead on the location of a prolific Alien collaborator in Mexico, your objective is to neutralize the target, and extract, preferably with the target captured and in tow. We've had to delay the Blacksite mission for a bit in the meantime, so sorry to dash your hopes on that one. Keep it tight down there people, this needs to be done quickly. Move out" He addressed, hands firmly behind his back as he watched us board the Skyranger.

On the Skyranger I again sat next to Brick, with Angel directly opposite me, sitting next to the other two women, still wearing his black cap. "Alright, Zero, this here is Echo, and Firehawk" Brick introduced almost immediately, pointing to the smaller of the two first. Echo was of Asian descent, with mid length black hair, whilst Firehawk was a bit stockier, taller, Caucasian, and had shaved off the hair from one side of her head, the remaining hair falling onto the other side, with blue streaks running through it, it looked very trendy and stylish. I raised my hand in greetings to them but didn't say a word. Firehawk flashed me a quick smile and a nod, with Echo turning her attention away almost immediately.

"How do you know them?" I asked Brick, who had already resumed to running her fingers down her gun, before snapping back to reality.

"Oh, those guys? They're my dorm mates. 2 of 'em anyway. Both Rangers, both freakin' awesome, and they like to compete with each other and stuff as well"

"Geez, Brick, why don't you just tell him our life stories while you're at it? Names are enough" Echo retorted, her arms folded across her body.

"Lighten up will ya? Zero's a good friend of mine" Brick defended herself, clearly not taking her complaint seriously at all.

Echo rolled her eyes at Brick, turning her attention away from us for a moment. I shrugged, thinking nothing of it, as the pilot spoke over the comms to tell us that the drop zone was in 15 seconds. Immediately, everyone geared up, holstering all of their weapons and checking their armor quickly, before the ramp opened up, 5 ropes trailing down towards the floor. I was closest this time, so I jumped out immediately, grabbing the rope furthest on my left, and sliding down quickly. As I landed, I scanned the area with my pistol, not seeing any movement, as the rest of the squad landed.

"Alright, let's move out" Firehawk announced, quickly making her way up with Echo just behind. The Commander called out over comms to tell us where we should position ourselves to. We had a limited time frame to complete this mission in, so as soon as we went loud, we'd need to run for it.

' _Zero, hang back behind the blue car as the others push forward. Brick, take lead, breach door to building'_ The callouts came. I ran to the car, recovering my breath quickly before I lined up anything with my rifle. From where I was, I could see into the building through the very large windows that marked the corners of the walls of the building, though I could not see in the front, where Brick was. The Rangers had pushed up either side of her, while Angel hung back slightly, but was still closer than I was.

"Enemy spotted!" Echo called out over comms. I could make out the movement of a few Aliens inside as they ran to find cover. Under the Commanders orders, Brick pushed forward into the building, Firehawk running to the side of the building, and Echo holding the door.

' _Zero, get the Captain'_

I looked down my scope, through the glass window, and I could see the red glint off of the armor of the Captain, who was hiding behind an indoor bench, peeking out of cover to mark out Brick to the rest of his squad. I lined up my shot as he was outstretched, my finger pressing down slightly in anticipation. The gun felt so much better to aim than my previous rifle, so much more comfortable, and the reduced weight only made it easier to aim. My rifle kicked back into me as it fired out the bullets, some sort of projectile, even I could see it travel to the target. I feared that it would miss due to the possibility of the Captain moving from the time I shot it to when the round would have hit him. Thankfully, the projectile was quick enough to hit the Captain before he recovered, his body disappearing out of sight behind the bench.

Brick launched a grenade towards a Sectoid and Trooper remaining in the building, the grenade killing the Trooper, and injuring the Sectoid, whilst destroying all of his cover. With little hesitation, Firehawk pounced on the Sectoid from a flanking position, sword drawn as she swang wildly at the Sectoid, which fell before her and her blade.

"Hostiles eliminated, moving up" Echo called into the comms again, already moving past Brick and Firehawk, taking up a new position against the door exiting the building. "Target spotted, guard patrol consists of Viper and two Troopers" She called out. The other three moved quickly to find full cover before the other squad spotted us, as I moved up towards the building. I was ordered to get onto the roof, so climbed the drainpipe, holstering my rifle across my back as I made my way up, and reloading my weapon as I peered over the edge. I could see a black van down below, with the three Aliens guarding it.

"They've seen us!" Brick called, ducking away as one of the troopers spotted her, firing his weapon at her, missing, but destroying the wall she was behind. The Viper shot her tongue at the now exposed Brick, grabbing her back towards the Van, behind it, and coiling herself around Brick.

"Can't breathe" Brick muttered into comms.

' _Zero, take the Viper out'_ I heard the Commander in my ear, as I already lined up the shot, aiming for the Viper's torso, away from Brick. I breathed in slowly, and then released my breath gradually, applying more and more pressure to the trigger. My shot broke the momentary silence of the battle, narrowly missing its target and slamming into the floor beside the Viper, a chunk of tarmac being displaced by the force of the projectile.

"Shot wide" I called into comms, as I lined up a second shot. I could just see the others moving up towards the van and towards Brick. I took a second shot, again, firing wide of the Viper, who hissed in my direction, trying to find more cover behind the van.

"Zero, did you just miss twice!?" I heard Echo over the comms. I tried lining up a third shot, but stopped as I saw Echo running forward with her shotgun, blasting the Viper in the face, causing it to uncoil from Brick, who collapsed to her hands and knees briefly as she caught her breath, before moving to the back of the van. Angel's gremlin flew over, dispatching some sort of blue spray over Brick, the medkits, to heal her

 _'Zero, Trooper is flanking us to left, take him out'_ The Commander called. I spotted the Trooper, moving to take a shot on Firehawk. I quickly scoped in, again lining up the shot. The Trooper leaned out of his cover to fire at Firehawk, and I saw my opportunity. I saw the projectile graze the very side of his helmet, barely doing anything, but it was just enough to cause his shots to miss. Firehawk chased him down with her sword, as Angel opened up the van, disappearing inside for a second, before coming out with a man unconscious over his shoulder.

I can't believe I had just missed an entire clip from my rifle, and they were crucial ones as well. I stared at my gun, desperately trying to look for an imperfection on a design I knew nothing about, trying to find an excuse.

' _Alright, head straight to Evac, there's more incoming'_ Bradford called over comms. I snapped out of it and lowered myself from the roof, rifle on my back and pistol drawn as we dashed to the Evac point. As I ran past the van, only about 10 meters behind the rest of my team, I just managed to avoid incoming enemy fire from my right, more troops trying to shoot at us as we ran. The others were about to hit the Evac zone, which looked to be in the middle of some sort of garden, with a low fence all around it.

I dived behind cover just before the fence as even more fire came in from behind, destroying the part of the fence I was just about to style over. I saw the others grabbing the ropes and ascending quickly into the heavens, I was the only one left now.

' _Come on Zero, get a move on!"_ Bradford again called into comms. I took a deep breath, counting to three, and dashing for the blue flare marked zone I needed to get to. As soon as I left cover, I felt a sharp stabbing pain up my arm, my body pushed slightly to my right. I restabilized my balance, running through the pain towards the last hanging rope. I grabbed it, quickly securing it to my utility belt with my right hand, as my left arm was going numb, and I was struggling to do anything with it, even grabbing the rope. I tugged sharply down on the rope, holding onto it with my right hand, as I was lifted up, just before more shots could find their target. As soon as I got up into the craft, the ramp closed behind me, I saw two upset faces staring back at me, the two Rangers.

"What the hell happened down there. You missed two shots on that damn Viper!" Echo yelled. Her face was red with anger, her eyes piercing through me, intimidating me, despite her being small. I shook my head, unholstering my rifle and putting it on the floor.

"I don't know...I'm so sorry, guys, I really am" I sighed. They were relatively easy shots that I had missed, shots I should be getting 85% of the time. The third shot was harder, but I still needed to hit that. If I had missed entirely, then his shot may have found Firehawk, which could cause serious trouble and damage to her.

"You're not going soft because of the Viper, Zero?" Brick asked, concern in her voice. I knew that one of them would get round to trying to put things together like this, but I hadn't expected it to be Brick. But it didn't sound like she was accusing me of it, just asking about it, but I'm sure it gave ammo to Echo.

"No, no, of course not!" I responded vehemently. " I don't know what happened, I missed the thing twice and then missed the Trooper. I just had a bad day, I'm sorry" I sighed, sitting myself down on the seats.

"Your bad day almost killed me, Zero. We can't afford for you to miss shots like that" Firehawk chimed in, clearly upset, but not angry like Echo was. "I think I'd understand more if you said it was because of the damn Viper"

"Well, it's not because of her. I really don't know..." I responded, holding my head in my right hand, my left arm still completely numb. I looked towards where the clothing on my arm had burned away, and saw that my arm was not bleeding like I had expected it to, but actually had a misshapen piece of metal lodged into it, the skin around it cauterized by the projectile itself. It didn't look too deep, but it was deep enough to not be able to get out easily, I would have to wait until we got back.

"Alright, give him a break. We've all missed shots we should have hit" Brick dismissed the others, sitting down herself, the two Rangers following suit. Brick almost immediately returned to talking to Firehawk about the Blacksite mission that was rumored to be happening sooner or later. Echo joined in as well, all trying to make guesses at the team that was gonna be taken. Echo and Firehawk eventually agreed on a bet of who had the most people correct on the squad, wagering £20 on it. I made a mental note to thank Brick later for distracting them from focusing on my performance in the field.

The journey wasn't long before the ship touched down in the Avenger hangar. Everyone headed down the ramp, leaving me to head out last, to see Bradford waiting there to debrief us.

"Well done today ladies and gents. The VIP is a valuable asset to Advent, now in our possession. Good work today, especially Echo and Firehawk, solid shooting. Zero and Brick you both need to report to the infirmary for your wounds. And Zero, you have done well enough to earn your next promotion. But I want that shooting better before we send you out next time, we can't afford to miss those sort of shots." He walked over to me, briefly inspecting my wound, before placing a new badge into my hand, the Sergeant's sigil. "The Commander requests for you to practice your pistol marksmanship so that you would be able to take a quick shot off with your pistol without affecting your role in the squad at all. It's called lightning hands, we'll order you when to do it over comms. Understood?" I nodded quickly, before looking down at my new badge. I felt like I didn't deserve it at all, considering how crap this mission was, but it wasn't my place to argue it. The others said bye to Brick, before heading out of the hangar. She headed over to me, her gun in one hand while unclipping her armor with the other

"Alright, Zero, we need to report to the infirmary. They'll need to get that out of you" She pointed briefly to my arm, which I still couldn't move much. I followed behind her as she lead the way out of the room, holding the door open for me. We quickly deposited our weapons and armor off at the armory as we left the hangar bay, before heading towards the infirmary.

"Try not to listen to them though. They've all had rough days, but they're all running on adrenaline from the fighting. Just take some time at the practice range to get used to your new rifle, the kick on it is so much different" She advised as we entered into the long hallways of the Avenger, her usual smile returning to her face.

"Yeah...you're right" I agreed, nodding. I would have been a lot angrier at myself if my shots missing had much more of an effect than it did, I suppose I had the two Rangers to thank for dissipating the damages. It certainly wasn't the best for first impressions. Angel seemed to have recovered from his lapse the other day, I just needed to follow his example. Get your head down, and focus on getting back into form.

"I know, I always am," She winked playfully. "Does your arm hurt, anyway?"

"No...it's just really numb, and I can't really move it much. I don't really want to look at it, it makes me feel kind of sick"

"Huh, squeamish, are you?" She teased, elbowing my right arm slightly.

"No!" I immediately denied. "Of course not. I just don't like seeing it on me, because it looks like I should feel pain"

Brick laughed in response, her infectious laughter causing a smile to come to my face. She started coughing though, holding her arm across her chest, stopping in her tracks in the hallway. I was about to ask her if she was alright when she held her other hand up to me to stop me. She coughed a bit more, it sounded very hoarse and chesty, before she resumed walking.

"Sorry, Zero. I think the Snake may have done something to my chest. I suppose I'll be in the infirmary for a bit" She shrugged. I looked up at her in concern, wondering whether it would be best to just leave her to it or to ask further. She didn't seem to want to hear my concerns about it, so I suppose it would be best to leave it. But that's always how Brick had been, she always looked out for others, but never wanted anyone to look out for her.

We finally found our way to the infirmary, being greeted by a nurse as we entered through the doors.

"Zero, and Brick? Bradford sent word you were coming down, we were expecting you" He commented, standing to the side and ushering us towards the beds. Inside the infirmary, there were 6 beds around the edge of the room, in a circular pattern, not that the room was very big. You could stand between the beds and just about touch them with both of your arms outspread. Each bed had machines beeping away, with loads of wires littering the floor. The bright overhead lights also illuminated some sort of stasis tank forming part of the circle of beds. I had heard that it was possible to remove fears through this machine. The thought of the possible applications of this machine was insane.

All of the beds but one were empty, the last being populated by Venom, and by his side, a doctor was stood, asking him questions. Venom looked like he had seen better days, his head heavily plastered, with wrappings around his arms and torse visible as the cover wasn't fully over him. She diverted her attention away from him as she saw us, touching his forearm briefly to signify her leaving, to come and sort us out.

"Hi. Have you both just come from the latest mission?" She asked, a discernable French accent floating in her words, most noticeable by the way she made a soft 'J' on the word just, and missing out the 'H' from have. Brick nodded in response, as the doctor moved over to two of the beds, next to each other and opposite from Venom, removing the cover from the top.

"Alright, you can rest here. I will take any and all action I can to heal you both up, once I have made a thorough examination. This will include x-rays, blood tests, and possible surgical operations" She mentioned, glancing down at my arm as she finished her sentence.

I moved to get into the bed closest to my right, Brick settling herself in the one next to me. Immediately, the Doctor wrapped my left wrist in something connected to the machine to my left, and inserted a needle into my elbow on the same arm, not too far down from the injury. I couldn't really feel it go in, but I didn't want to look too much, I was already recoiling enough from the sight of my wound.

"What is this?" I asked as she headed over to Brick to do the same thing.

"Anaesthetic, and monitoring machine. Monitors you and stops it hurting" She explained quickly. "That stuff will stop the pain until I can cut the thing out of your arm" I shivered at the thought of her pulling out the metal lodged in my arm, whilst I was still awake. "Alright, if you need anything call the nurse, I'll be busy" She quickly mumbled to both of us, before dashing out of the room in a hurry, leaving just us and Venom.

"Venom? How are you holding up man?" Brick asked almost as soon as the doctor had left the room. I could hear Venom grunt as he attempted to talk back to Brick.

"Not too good" A slow, hoarse whisper came from the other side of the room. "Doc says I'll be in here for almost a month"

"Rough. Don't talk if it hurts. Glad you're doing okay otherwise" She responded, shifting around to get more comfortable. Silence hung in the air again, only interrupted by the regular beeping of the machines monitoring our vitals. They were almost hypnotic, their regular timing tempting my eyes closed. That or the anesthetic anyway. There was still a lack of any pain in my arm, but looking at it only made me more squeamish about the wound. Hopefully, I would only be stuck in here a couple of days, the same with Brick.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 1830 EST 4/1/2035, Location: unknown)

Another day locked in the same room, the endless routine of soldiers coming in and watching me without blinking for 2 hours straight, then leaving again never stopped. Some faces I remembered, some looked new. The only interesting part of the day was when one of the soldiers turned on the TV, actually early on in the morning, waking me up in the process. The channel he chose seemed to be linking into the same cameras that I had seen overview the resistance camps when they were razed, now instead showing a group of the five X-com soldiers dropping down into a city. I could just about tell that Zero was one of the squad members, wearing the same red neck gear that I saw him wearing on the day of my capture. They were too small on the screen really, but I could then make a guess at who Brick was out of the five.

I watched them clear the first building with relatively little trouble, working efficiently to take out the opposition before moving up. But as Brick was caught by the Viper, I watched with a pang of sadness in my heart as she was strangled by her opponent. I could only wince as Zero missed both of his shots, and I started feeling horrified, fearful for Brick. Did I actually feel sorry for these terrorists? If I felt relieved when Brick was finally freed from the clutch of my sister, who did I actually support? Such thoughts ran through my head without me being able to stop them. I was happy that Zero missed his shots. I was happy Brick was almost taken. I had to be happy, it was my race they were fighting against.

But when Zero was caught in low cover, trying to evacuate, I found myself hoping for a shot to find him, for a shot to bring him down before he could reach the Skyranger. It seemed that my prayers had been answered when I saw one of the projectiles fly into him, staggering his run. I felt my hood quiver in response to the shot, but he carried on, making his way out regardless. I had to give him some admiration, he didn't even hesitate, even after he was shot. But I was still angry at myself for having the fleeting feelings of sympathy for Brick. Even if she had been one of the only people here that seemed to care for me and my wellbeing, she was still a terrorist.

As usual, breakfast and lunch contained nothing in them that I would be able to eat. I could feel myself getting hungrier and hungrier, to the point where I often found myself staring into nothingness for several minutes at a time, and a constant buzzing in my head making it hard and painful to focus on anything. It got to the point where I was considering trying to eat the cheese sandwich presented to me for my lunch, even if it meant me emptying my stomach, acid and all, for a brief moment of satisfaction of having food.

The soldiers who had been watching me headed for the door as a knock came from the other side, taking little time to open it, letting in two replacements, before they headed out, a small exchange of pleasantries between the former guard to the new one. The 2 soldiers on the new rotation I had met a few times before. From what I had heard, one was called Vandal, and the other called Deadbolt. They mostly left me alone, but Vandal had asked a couple of question before as well, mostly my name, what I did for Advent.

"Hey, Viper" Deadbolt greeted as they headed in. Deadbolt took his usual seat, placing it in the middle of the room facing the TV near my bunk as he switched between the channels. He did this pretty much every time, without fail. He didn't seem bothered at all by my presence, and I presumed that he found the task of guarding me a chore. I paid him no heed, as he continued with his routine. Vandal headed over to me directly, placing another plate by my bed. Before he even brought it over, I could smell my reward, I could smell the blissful smell of meat, of food I could actually eat. I rested myself on my tail as I looked at the food. Meatballs and spaghetti. Well, I wasn't going to eat the spaghetti, but there were quite a few meatballs on the plate, little balls of food that made my mouth water as soon as I saw them, the thought of eating them made me feel even hungrier.

"Thank you, thank you" I praised before I started eating, picking the meatballs out quickly with my fingers. There wasn't any sauce, so it wasn't too messy to do so. Vandal simply shrugged as he delivered the plate, looking towards both of the cameras quickly, before leaving a small container on the side of the table, seeming to cover it slightly as he did so.

"Brick also wanted me to give you the meat. I don't think she thought you were gonna get them. Enjoy" He shrugged. Inside the small, translucent container he had left, was about twice the amount of meatballs I had on my plate. My stomach was going crazy, rumbling at the anticipation of the huge amount of food I now had. It took me a few seconds of stuffing my mouth with what I could find before I took in what he said.

"Hang on, Brick told you to give this to me? Is she not trying to recover from her wounds?" I asked after swallowing my last mouthful.

"Yeah, she's in the infirmary at the moment. Didn't stop her from bringing it up when I went to visit her, though. So you still have Brick to thank" He explained, standing cross-armed at the base of the bunk. He had a rifle strapped to his back, he obviously didn't feel the need to point it at me constantly like everyone else did. The other human held a sniper rifle across his lap, there if he needed it.

"How badly is she hurt?" I asked, purposely trying to sound disinterested. I didn't even realize I had made the conscious effort not to care until I already tried to disguise it.

"She'll be fine in a couple of days, if not sooner. Doctor said it was just because her chest cavity was put under large strain she was just experiencing aching and pain as a result, bruising of some sort, and that rest was all she would need" He explained briefly, his hands reaching into his pockets. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it. Just call if you need anything"

With that, he headed back over towards the other human, both watching the TV. All they were doing was flicking through several Advent broadcasts, mostly news stations. They really did have global coverage, I guess. I hungrily wolfed down more of the meatballs I was provided, the ones on the plate were still warm, whereas the meatballs in the container were now somewhat cold. But I wasn't going to complain about it, I had been starving all day. My only grievance with it was that Bradford may now interrogate me again, now that I've actually been fed.

With its classic jingle, the Advent news network broadcast over the TV, alerting me from my food to watch it. I moved from my bed to get a better look at the screen, putting the food on the cabinet beside me. The Speaker was back on the TV. I believe whenever he broadcasts, it comes over most of the Advent channels to increase its viewership.

' _Citizens of Advent, it is to my regret to inform that X-com has made yet another attack on our Peacekeeper forces! This marks the third day in a row where Peacekeeping forces have been the target of an attack, with civilians also being under their scope. While civilian casualties were reduced to a minimum thanks to the bravery of the Advent Peacekeepers, X-com still managed to take the life of a civilian. Don't give in to their terror, fear makes them stronger! We become stronger together, we are stronger united. Nothing will come between the love of the Elders and their people!_ '

"Just turn it off, will you?" Vandal asked, snatching the remote from Deadbolt and switching channels, watching the same broadcast being played on all of them. "Oh..."

"Yeah, oh" Deadbolt replied, taking the remote back for himself. He turned the screen off, laughing slightly. "No one needs to hear more of his drivel"

The Speaker had a beautiful way of crafting words, it was soothing to listen to him express peace and solidarity. But I watched the broadcast of the X-com soldiers, even though they did attack Peacekeepers, and did take a 'civilian', even I could see the spin the Speaker was putting on the broadcast, to rally support for Advent. I remembered back to their broadcast of the haven attack, where they had outright lied to make the broadcast more favorable to them. His honeyed words didn't seem so sweet coming from him now, now that I knew of his inaccuracy. But he was also right, I needed to be strong, strong for the sake of the success of Advent, for the protection of my species.

Yet earlier today, I had felt sorrow for one of the terrorists, even if she was the one who had essentially kept me alive, she was the enemy. And I actually wanted her free and safe in a fight against one of my own. I felt so ashamed of myself again, guilt washing over me as I forced myself back into the bed, recoiling from my own thoughts. Thankfully, it wasn't long until I was interrupted, by Vandal shaking my bunk to wake me up.

"Snake, Central Bradford is here for you" He muttered as he stopped shaking the bed, after seeing he had gotten my attention. I pulled myself out from under the covers again, seeing the officer waiting in the same place, by the table and chair with an extra two soldiers on top of Vandal and Deadbolt to watch me. He motioned towards the chair with one of his hands as I approached, beckoning me to sit. I followed his orders, trying to find the same comfortable spot as last time, coiling part of my tail into the chair to rest on.

"Good evening, Unit 19201648. As you requested, you've got your food, I assume it is satisfactory?" He asked, taking his place on the other side of the desk, hands behind his back.

"Yes, thank you. I'm glad the Doctor was able to persuade you" I replied, kind of patronizingly. He seemed to roll his eyes slightly but maintained the more professional attitude.

"Yes, Dr. Tygan did a lot of research to find if there was an alternative, under my command. None of which are feasible economically, anyway, so you'll be getting meat alongside your evening meals from now on" He informed, pulling up the same clipboard again, flicking through the pages. "Where were we last time? We ended talking about your patrolling..." He muttered, I wasn't sure if to himself or to me or both. "Yeah, I asked what would happen if you returned, and you told me that they would put you on another patrol"

"Yes, to my knowledge" I responded factually, trying to match his stare with my own.

"Okay. What were you doing before your patrol to the transmitter location?"

"I was on patrol at a separate location, guarding an authority figure" I responded, not feeling the need to disguise what I had done.

"Do you patrol often?" He asked, putting the clipboard down briefly.

"Yes, for the past 20 years I have ...dedicated myself to patrolling under orders from the Elders" I paused briefly as I tried to find the right words. Bradford didn't seem to be noting this down at all, however.

"Escorting people, guarding transmitters only?"

"Supply trains, facilities, towns, a bit of everything" I shrugged. He quickly picked up his clipboard again, jotting something down on the paper. Something I said must have been of interest.

"What kind of facilities have you patrolled?" He asked, pen in hand ready to write.

"Uhh...Advent ones. I've never been inside the facilities, just on the outside of them."

"Did you ever see them transporting anything? Anything unusual going on at the site?" He asked. He sounded almost excited for the answer, I didn't get the whole deal. Were these facilities going to be places they hit? All I knew about them was that they had something to do with the gene therapy stuff, must just be labs of some sort.

"No, nothing"

Bradford eyed me carefully, ordering a soldier beside him to get a second chair. He waited until he was seated, placing both elbows on the table.

"Unit 19201648, if I find you are not telling me the truth, I swear I will sell you straight to the Black Market, where their treatment of you will be worse than here by tenfold" He threatened, his low voice becoming somewhat gravelly and low, I felt very intimidated by it.

"I...I didn't do anything there. I just patrolled"

"Did you see them moving anything. Literally anything at all. Boxes, guns, tanks" He pressured. I tried to think back to my time guarding some of the facilities. There were sometimes a couple of ships in the landing pads, but I never went inside any of the facilities, only around the edges of them. I sometimes saw a few other natural Vipers at these places than I did patrolling towns, but there wasn't anything that stood out

"They would have ships arrive sometimes, providing an extra...garrison while they stayed. Maybe refueled" I answered, trying my best to discern what was going on there myself, along with deciding what to tell him.

The man sighed to himself, making notes on the paper again, before resuming his questioning of me.

"How many Vipers, roughly, are there that Advent has control over, in terms of being able to utilize them as patrols, such as yourself?" He asked, seeming a lot more relaxed now off of the topic of the facilities

"I can only really guess. There's a lot more of Advent soldiers than Vipers, maybe a few tens of thousand? But then our numbers are...supplemented by clones."

"Clones?"

"Yeah. I've noticed a bunch of Vipers that all look exactly the same. Same pattern, same color, same everything. All Vipers have some variation, so it's the only explanation for the similarities"

"Really?" He sounded actually amused at this, writing down a few lines on his paper, turning back to me. "Alright, tell me more about it"

"I don't know much about it. Just that I've seen clones of Vipers, probably due to Advent"

"Does this not anger you?" He asked, not looking up from his clipboard. In some ways, it did, having my own species manipulated by Advent was infuriating on face value, but it was better a clone died than a natural Viper. And Advent operated under the will of the Elders, and who was I to question their decisions?

"No. It is reasonable. Males in the Viper species are few and far between anyway, our species would struggle without the aid of the Elders" I responded, nodding as I was in thought about the Elders.

"Okay. Why were you asked to patrol supply trains and towns then?"

"Supply trains weren't as often, I've only ever done a few, usually to help transport me to a different patrol at the same time. In towns, Vipers are...preferred to other aliens. Our species is intelligent, we are able to learn your English language to a decent level, which helps talk to civilians more."

"Right. Baby steps, Unit 19201648. We'll leave it there for today, I will come back tomorrow to resume" He nodded, getting out of the chair. He walked past me with his two soldiers, heading straight out the door. As soon as he left, I let out a sigh of relief, unaware of how tense the short interrogation had made me feel. I headed back for the bed, again looking at the cameras, as Vandal had done.

If I was correct, the bedside table, and some of the bed and surrounding area was actually out of range of the cameras, maybe as a protocol to reduce invasiveness. This must be why Brick could sneak my food in so quickly. I slithered towards the other bed, earning a weird glance from Vandal before he shrugged and turned away, chatting with the Sniper. The bed was a little cooler, but everything else was the same, the cameras pointing near my direction didn't seem to cover the right side of my bed, as expected, and I wasn't being stared at now because of the TV anymore. I'll admit, having a little more privacy than I originally thought was kind of refreshing.

A long while after I had settled down, my stomach started to feel horrendous, like a build-up of acid below my chest, like I was going to throw up. Maybe eating everything so quickly, and to such a large amount hadn't been a great idea. Not that I could take it back now. I'd just have to remember to vomit on one of the soldiers when I finally did manage to throw up. Vandal and Deadbolt were still guarding, but I doubt for long.

I buried my head in my pillow, wrapping the duvet tight around me, waiting for the pain to go away, which I didn't notice, but my head refused to let me listen to the pain for much longer, as my pain in my stomach resided as I slowly fell back asleep in the new bunk.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 1400 EST 4/3/2035, Location: unknown)

I had spent the last two straight days lying in a bed, unallowed by the doctor to do anything other than eat, sleep and talk. Within the first few hours of being put here, the doctor started the extraction process of the metal in my arm. Since I wasn't injured enough to warrant full use of anesthesia, I was still fully awake to watch her dissect my arm and pull the round out, using some of the gel that forms the medkit to coat the wound after she treated what she could. Medkits had extreme regenerative properties, depending on the type of hemotoxin used could cause instant but often temporary self-repair, or gradual but sustained repair. But with the medkit applied, I was no longer on the painkillers, and I spent the rest of my time here in fairly constant pain, both from the initial wound, and the burning feeling of the medkit as it healed me, it felt as if something was inside my arm, eating away at my skin, even though it was doing the opposite.

But I still had to wait for the wound to begin healing so that I could be properly discharged. Brick was able to leave on the day she arrived, thanks to her pain just being bruising, but Venom was still in his bed, barely moving, whereas I fidgeted constantly. I couldn't stand being inactive this long, I don't know how Venom was managing. Brick visited me each day to check how I was doing, or just to talk. I was glad for her company, I didn't have much to talk about with Venom while he was awake, and she provided good entertainment, bringing some cards along with her so we could play a couple of crude games she knew.

She also told me about Unit 19201648, and that she was finally being fed properly, so I didn't have to spare any of my food for her anymore, and that she was undergoing interrogations every day so far. Which I suppose was a good thing, as I didn't see the Commander keeping her around for the sake of it. If she ceased being useful I'm certain that she would find her way to the Black Market, which I didn't really wish for her either. But it was obvious talking to her that Advent had such a good grip on her mind, she was completely loyal to them and the Elders, so once she ran out of information, I didn't know what would happen.

But now I was out, I was almost immediately put back on duty to watch her again, with bandages wrapped tightly around my arm, I made my way out of the infirmary, heading down towards the armory to pick up my rifle and pistol, and then proceeded up towards the room the Viper was kept in. I was on watch with Samurai today, so I was expecting to meet him at the entrance. But as I arrived, I couldn't see head nor tail of him, only the two guards on watch at the door. I peeked inside, seeing Vandal and a second soldier I didn't know spot me, and begin heading towards me to switch out. I shook my head in response, watching them both stop in their tracks.

"Sorry, Samurai isn't here yet, can't switch" I informed, watching Vandal roll his eyes.

"Trust him to be late. Oh well, if he's not here in the next 5 minutes, then I'll stay here with you Zero" Vandal sighed, turning back around to face the Viper. I noticed she was sat on the other side of the room than she usually did, but otherwise, she wore the same judging expression she always wore. I broke away from our very short-lived staring contest, waiting outside the door with the other guards, all holding new magnetic weaponry as well. Finally, Samurai turned up a couple of minutes later, holding his new shotgun, slightly out of breath as he approached.

"Sorry I'm late...Forgot to pick up the new shard gun from the armory" He apologized, hunched over slightly as he recovered his breath. He headed through the door ahead of me, so I followed him in afterward.

"Ah, Samurai! Glad to see you didn't skip detention, and that you're just late for it" Vandal teased as soon as he spotted us enter.

"Yeah, didn't particularly want to come. Just didn't want you to hog all the time waiting for the Viper to give you a reason to plug her" Samurai sarkily responding, walking past him. "Maybe today's my lucky day" He glanced over to the Viper, who sat watching him. I saw her slowly extend her arm, and then raise her largest claw at Samurai, resembling a middle finger gesture, with a dead expression. Obviously, she had seen the gesture either before capture or from the soldiers using the gesture to each other or at her. I started chuckling at the gesture, but Vandal was full out laughing at the expense of Samurai.

"Ha, that'll teach ya! But seriously, don't shoot the Viper until she does actually give you a reason to. Unless you want to be kicked off ship by the Commander" He warned, smiling at Samurai's stalwart expression, who was clearly unphased by the Viper's response. But Unit 19201648 was sure happy with Vandal laughing, as I swear I saw a small smile flit across her features, though it was kind of hard to tell.

Vandal and the second soldier left out the door, with a mock wave to Samurai as they did so. Samurai walked over and stood somewhat close to the Viper's bunk, holding his shotgun across his body. He turned around to face me, with the Viper at the corner of his vision.

"Long time no see, Zero. How've you been?" He asked, trying to start conversation.

"Not bad. Just got out of the infirmary like half an hour ago. Can't stand it in there" I shrugged as I responded, a streak of pain shooting down my left arm. I had to remember not to move my arm too much, otherwise I might hinder the healing process.

"Yeah, know what you mean. The constant beeping drives me a little crazy" He joked, obvious from his tone, yet no smile came to his face. "I've had to go in there for like 10 straight days once, damn Stun Lancers"

"Rough. Two days is too much for me. Thankfully Brick was there to keep me entertained"

"Yeah, that's pretty nice. Deadbolt and Vandal kept coming in to visit, make it a little more bearable. That was when I was still a Corporal" He let out a small side smirk as he recalled his memory. Without warning he snapped around away from me, pointing the shotgun directly and the Viper, who had barely moved, but had just started getting off of the bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, not lowering his gun. She continued getting out of her bed, pointing towards the wooden door of the room, which was the bathroom.

"I was just going to take a shower, and change my top" She explained, moving past us, and towards a small pile of clothes lying by the side of the other bunk. She picked the grey top from the top of the pile, which was possibly a bit bigger than the white top she wore at the moment.

"Do you need help to operate it?" I asked, out of genuine kindness. I wasn't sure whether she knew how to use them or not, but it wouldn't hurt to offer help.

"No, I'm not incapable. Plus, I've already used it before" She responded back at me, a slight sharpness was in her voice as she spoke. She seemed to glide across the floor slightly as she slithered towards the bathroom, and I heard the door lock closed. I returned to talking with Samurai, who now holstered his shotgun with the Viper out of sight.

"I'm not happy with that Viper. It's just the way she looks, almost like she's plotting something. Maybe she's gonna try to escape?" He exclaimed, heading to sit on the free bunk. I heard the water rushing through the pipes around us as the Viper turned on the shower.

"She'd be signing a death warrant if she tried. How's she even gonna get off the ship?" I offered my interpretation of the matter to Samurai. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I could understand where Samurai's concern came from. The Viper has had a few days to think about her captivity here, it was entirely possible that she was trying to plan something.

A loud hiss in the direction of the bathroom broke my thoughts, along with some noisy cluttering accompanying the hiss. Samurai gave me a slightly concerned look, as we both approached the door. I rapped the door with my knuckles 3 times, before trying to get the attention of Unit 19201648.

"Hey! What's going on in there? Is everything OK?" I asked through the door, holding my pistol in my right hand. All I heard was silence as a response, so Samurai chimed in.

"If you don't tell us what's happened, we're gonna see ourselves by kicking down the door!" He threatened, annoyance in his voice.

"Fine, aright" her voice called from the other side, followed by another pause. "I'm...stuck" She hissed quietly.

"What?" He shouted back to her, I wasn't sure whether he didn't hear or wanted clarification.

"I'm stuck!" She repeated, but louder. Samurai let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Okay. Zero is gonna come in and help then, can you undo the lock on the door?" He asked. I'm sure it was something stupid, that barely required my attention, and I didn't particularly want to argue with Samurai about who had to go in.

"No!" She hastily shouted back. "Sorry, I mean, no, could you send Brick"

"Why won't Zero do?"

"...Well, firstly, I don't want him to help me, secondly, I trust Brick, not Zero." She reasoned, her voice quieter again. Samurai shook his head, exasperated. "Could you just tell us what's happened at least?"

"I'm stuck. In my top" She sighed. An image of the Viper desperately trying to take off a stuck top found its way into my mind, causing me to laugh slightly. Samurai rolled his eyes, clearly irritated by the situation.

"Could you just let Zero do it? It'll be quicker and easier"

"I can wait. Send Brick" She ordered this time. The shower was still running in the background, which was probably just as cold as the shower in my room; stone cold. As reptiles tended to be cold-blooded, not that I was sure whether Vipers were cold or warm blooded, but if they are cold-blooded, then the shower would probably give her hypothermia if she wasn't careful.

Samurai shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Fine, but you might have to wait a while. I don't know where Brick is" He walked over to the front door, standing in the doorway to hold it open, and spoke to the guards, one of whom promptly left. He stood chatting to the soldier outside,

"That's okay. But I can't turn the shower off..." She replied, though Samurai was out of earshot. I holstered my pistol, seeing no use for it at the moment, and waited by the door for Brick to arrive. I decided to break the silence by trying to talk to the Viper, in the meantime.

"So I haven't been on guard for a few days. I heard they finally started giving you meat with your food?" I asked, already knowing her answer would have been yes, but I couldn't think of what else to talk about.

"Yes. What of it?" She answered back, sounding thoroughly disinterested in making conversation with me. I gathered that she didn't want to talk to me from it, but I felt that I couldn't just not respond to her reply.

"Well...you know, it's good. It's good that you're being fed properly" I explained.

"They didn't really have much choice. They wanted me to answer questions and I refused until I had food. I wouldn't have the food if I didn't have... information to give to you terrorists. You're all the same, you use a different agenda to push your own. And I don't know yours, or why you are talking to me now. Maybe it's trying to get me to 'like' you, is it? That's why you 'missed' those two shots on the Viper?! It won't work, terrorist!" She retorted, raising her voice in anger as she continued on. I was outraged at her accusation, especially of her bringing my field performance into it.

"Me missing those shots was my bad aim, and nothing to do with you! I don't care whatsoever whether you hate me or like me!" I yelled back, keeping my voice still somewhat low, so as not to completely alert those at the door. "And it doesn't matter whether I would prefer you to die or live, it's cruel to mistreat a prisoner of war!"

"Zero, why are you shouting at the Viper?" Brick interrupted me. I hesitated, caught off guard by Brick approaching. I had gotten angry enough that I completely ignored her approach me. I felt my face burning, as I looked away, embarrassed.

"Sorry..." I apologized, avoiding her gaze. "She's just winding me up"

Brick laid her hand on my right shoulder, leaning down slightly to make eye contact. "Zero, don't let her get to you then. Just walk away from it next time, yeah?" She smiled, patting my shoulder twice before standing up to face the door. "Unit 19201648, it's Brick. Can I come in?"

"Yes... But no laughing" She responded. I sighed, shaking my head at myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. I left to sit on one of the bunks to give Brick a bit of space, as she entered the bathroom. A couple of seconds later, I heard Brick's hearty laughter through the door. I pulled my rifle onto my lap, just in case the worst happened, though I didn't really feel anything would happen. A short while later, Brick came out of the bathroom, a ripped white top in her hand, which she promptly balled up and chucked on the floor by the bed.

"You had to rip the shirt to get it off?" I questioned, disbelieving that her being stuck was that bad.

"Oh, yeah. She managed to really mess it up, she had it half caught over her hood. Think she was quite embarrassed that someone had to see her in that sort of position. I can understand why she didn't want one of you guys to help though" She explained, sitting down on the bunk with me. "Though I suppose in that respect I'm not much of a better option. But she doesn't exactly know that"

"I think it's just because she trust you a lot more, Brick, you're overthinking it" I chuckled at Brick's expense, earning a slight laugh from her as well.

"Ha, yeah, you're probably right. I heard they're venom sacs anyway, so it's not as exciting as I've made it out to be" She smiled. It was all a little odd talking about the Alien's breasts, a topic I really didn't have much interest in.

"Anyway, how's your chest?" I diverted the topic.

"You're worried about my chest? You still have a huge hole in your arm. Anyway, my chest is fine, doesn't hurt anymore. But I'm not allowed on another mission for a couple more days so I don't upset it again. Doctor's orders. With your arm, do you have to replace the bandage yourself?"

"Nah, Doctor has to do it, I have to got to the infirmary twice a day to get it replaced, and so she can poke around in there" I grinned. Brick pretended to gag a little in response, sticking her tongue out.

"Dude, no need for the imagery. Especially cause that doctor creeps me out a little. Well, all doctors do, really" She said with a shrug.

The door leading to the bathroom opened, the Viper walking back into the room, now wearing a grey top instead. She glanced towards us, nodding at Brick slightly, or at least I think she was nodding at Brick.

"Alright, crisis averted then," Brick announced, jumping up from the bed. "I'm off. See you at dinner" She said as she left the room, turning around and briefly gave a two-fingered salute to me. I returned the gesture, just before she could disappear. Samurai was stood next to the door, watching the Viper closely, shotgun in hands. He seemed to always be a little on edge around the Viper, a bit like I was on my first shift, just less twitchy. Now I had been on a few guard shifts of the Viper, I had got used to it a bit more, and was more relaxed in general.

Halfway through my shift, Unit 19201648 called my name, despite there being ages of silence, with Samurai standing watch, with me watching them both from the spare bunk, the one the Viper used to sit on.

"Zero" She called, her voice somewhat quiet as I wasn't really paying attention. I stood up from the bunk, watching Samurai straighten his posture, watching the Viper for any moves. I headed over to her bed, where she still lay coiled underneath the duvet.

"What do you want?" I asked, in a tight voice, not drawing any weapons as I approached. I knew that Samurai was more than ready should something happen.

"Look...uh... I'm sorry, for...y'know...picking a fight with you. And bringing up your mission" She hissed reluctantly, avoiding eye contact, her right arm rubbing the area between her hood and shoulder as she spoke.

"That sounded hard for you to say," I mocked slightly. "I take it Brick told you to say that?"

"Well, yes. But I still mean it. I was just being defensive" She admitted, holding my gaze this time. I didn't quite believe that she was entirely sorry for what she said, I reckon that in the same situation she would still snap back at me in the same way.

"I appreciate the honesty, I guess. I'm sorry for shouting back" I conceded, trading my own apology for hers. "I meant to ask earlier, but was the shower okay? They're usually stone cold. I was kind of afraid you might get hypothermia or something"

"Zero, you shouldn't get too friendly with her. She thinks we're the worst of the worst, it's all an act for your benefit, don't fall for it" Samurai warned me, interrupting our conversation and stepping closer to me as he said it. I could see the concern in his eyes, but dismissed his notion.

"I can handle myself, thanks" I responded, turning back to face the Viper, awaiting her response.

"The shower was fine. I recover from the cold alright, since we're warm-blooded" She responded. I raised my eyebrows at her response, piquing my genuine interest.

"I thought reptiles tended to be cold-blooded?"

"They are, as are my species, before genetic interference by the Elders. The integration of your human DNA into ours has allowed for our species to develop as warm-blooded, which is much better as a species to allow us to live in more hostile conditions." She explained. "One of the few perks your DNA gives us"

"Right, I should have guessed really. And uh, your scar is healing up well" I pointed out. She instinctively looked down towards the faintish red scar situated down the side of her torso area, running her fingers over it.

"Yeah, the scales are coming back over already. Your medical supplies are very effective" She agreed, sounding surprised. Maybe she had not noticed that the scarring had faded so much since the beginning.

"Alright. I'll leave you to it then. Just say if you need anything" I nodded, heading back away from her, being stopped by Samurai as I passed him with his hand on my shoulder. He gave me a sharp look, and shook his head discretely at me, before releasing his grip, and letting me go.

The rest of the shift was quiet, with Unit 19201648 staying in the bunk, and Samurai at the door. I stood largely in silence, without the TV on either, thinking about how to deal with the Viper. It seemed that after Brick had spoken to her, she seemed to be less hostile towards me. But I didn't exactly plan on getting on her good side, like Brick had already done. I suppose I preferred a more neutral ground where I could still talk to her, but still remember that she was the enemy, and that given half the chance, she would still kill me. I shivered at the thought, as our rotation opened the door, signaling for us to leave.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

(Sergeant 'Zero', 12:00 EST 4/7/2035, location: New Mexico)

It had been a few days now since I was released from the infirmary, and today was my last visit. The Avenger has been grounded in New Mexico whilst we scanned for supplies in the nearby area, and everything has been rather relaxed on the ship as well. On one of the occasions Brick and I were guarding the Viper, Brick invited her to join us to play a game of cards, or more specifically a game of rummy. It took a short while to explain how to play the game to the Viper, but she seemed to get the hang of it pretty quickly. Harder was trying to show her how to fan the cards in her hand, though she got it down eventually. We started off playing a few practice rounds before moving onto full round with points carrying over. Unit 19201648 ended up beating us over a set of 5 the first time and was ecstatic at the fact that she beat Brick and me at our own game. The interrogations were less frequent as well, she told me that Bradford had only come once in the past four days. This made me fear her fate, however, as if she was getting fewer interrogations, it was only because they didn't have anything else to ask her, and if they had no need for her to be on ship, what would happen?

I entered through the infirmary doors, Venom still in the bed, hooked up to a machine beeping away, with the doctor again by his side. She glanced up at me as I approached, her expression remaining calm and professional.

"Hi, Zero. How are you today?" She asked, her accent still altering her words slightly. She led me towards a small seat to the side of the room, with a plethora of medical supplies on the table next to it.

"I'm good. Glad to have the time to rest" I replied, taking my seat and watching her pick up a pair of small scissors up from the table. She moved around me to my left arm, slipping the scissors underneath, the cold metal on my wound making it throb slightly. She made the cut, the bandages floating down to the floor, with a little bit of red on them, but otherwise just damp from the gel. Where once on my arm was a thick metal projectile, now was only a slight skin discoloration, slightly paler than the rest of my arm, but otherwise good as new.

"How does it feel? Does it hurt? Can you move it fine?" She barraged the questions at me. I moved my arm around a bit, stretching it to my side and above me, feeling the muscle pull slightly as I did so. It had a dull ache when I wasn't moving it, which sharpened when I stretched it, but it felt like I could use it fully.

"It hurts slightly, more so when I stretch it" I responded, placing my arm back down at my side. She moved to pick up a clipboard near the bed I used to stay in, taking down a couple of notes, before placing it back.

"Seems like you are ready to be fully discharged. I will recommend to the Commander that you shall not take part in any missions for another 3 days, by that time the pain should have subsided. Let me know if this is not the case" She smiled, gesturing the way out of the infirmary for me. I stood up, nodding my head towards her as I passed her, heading towards the exit.

"Thanks, Doc. Don't know what I'd do without you"

"You would die from an infected wound" She called back after me. I glanced back to see a slight smirk on her face as I left, before she turned around to see Venom again. I still felt really bad for him, he still had over half a month left to recover from his wounds at the hands of Angel. I know that the soldiers he was friends with visited him daily, but I still wouldn't be able to stand to be idle for an entire month.

Other than guarding the Viper, I had been practicing my aim again with the rifle down the practice range, hitting the targets as I expected. I still didn't know how I was missing my targets on the mission I went on, unless it was just the projectile travel time coming into question. I also had my first shift guarding the door to the Viper, which was arguably worse than sitting in a hospital bed for the same length of time, at least that was comfortable-ish.

I had arranged with Brick beforehand to meet at the Cafeteria for lunch, so made my way quickly to the food hall. I couldn't see her waiting outside for me, so I quickly went through the doors, scanning the room for a tall, stocky woman, but I couldn't see her. The tables were mostly empty, as it was possible to seat the entire garrison here, yet all wouldn't come at quite the same time. Before I could turn back around, I felt a heavy hand clasp down on my shoulder.

"You weren't planning on getting food without me now, were you Zero?" Brick asked, turning me around to face her, her huge smile on her face already.

"Haha, no, of course not..." I mocked a nervous laugh at her. "Just checking the cafeteria for you in case you tried the same thing"

"Heh, fair enough. Goblin's coming down in a couple of minutes, I invited him to join us, this ok?" She asked, moving past me to claim her space in the food line before me, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the fact that she would do that.

"Yeah, of course" I responded, grudgingly taking my place in line after Brick. Today on the menu was linguine carbonara, one of my favorite dishes I've had on this ship. After waiting behind Brick for a solid minute, constantly sighing and groaning about my displeasure at getting my food second, to the amusement of Brick, we sat down at an empty table and started on our food.

"So, Zero, I've got some interesting news for you" Brick started, before putting in a new mouthful of spaghetti, to prevent her from speaking.

"Really? You're gonna make me wait until you finish your mouthful to tell me? Bait much" I said as I rolled my eyes, waiting for her to swallow to continue speaking.

"Yeah, of course, it's good news," She grinned. "I heard that the Black Site mission is going to be held later today!" She almost squealed but kept her voice down, her eyes widening with excitement. Just as she mentioned it, Goblin placed himself down beside us, his tray clattering the table and making a loud noise, turning all attention to us briefly.

"What's this about the Black Site mission?" He asked, loud enough for the other soldiers in the room to hear. Quickly, but gradually, the whole room resumed to talking, but with a noticeable renewed vigor.

"It should be today" Brick repeated, putting in another mouthful. "Saw it in the command center" She spoke through her mouthful. I shielded my face from her food particles, though none actually came out, it was more to mock her for speaking with her mouthful.

"Disgusting. Could you please have some manners?"

"Sorry" She shrugged. "Didn't mean to"

"That's awesome," Goblin interjected, returning to the topic of the Black Site. "I so hope I get chosen to go on it, but I doubt it. Why are they doing it so suddenly now?"

"I think because Scales actually gave them something useful" Brick responded, referring to Unit 19201648 by a new nickname. "It makes sense for it to be now if they were told something by her. Would also explain the lack of interrogation" Brick explained. Goblin immediately sighed in disgust at the mention of the Viper.

"Are you seriously believing that? She probably knows nothing, and even if she did, why would she tell us? She's just trying to lead using a trap, and kill more of us" He complained.

"We're still just attacking the Black Site, it's something that's been in the works for a while now. It's not like she's been able to communicate with Advent anyway, I don't think there'll be a trap that we will waltz into" Brick refuted, continuing with her food.

"Ugh, and because I'm not getting chosen to go on the mission, I'll probably end up having to babysit the Viper again" Goblin complained.

"You still aren't getting along? She's not so bad if you're just a little nice, you know" Brick shrugged. "I suppose you didn't make the best first impression"

Goblin shook his head exasperatedly at Brick. "I don't plan on being nice to her Brick. You seem to forget she killed Alphabet, that she is one of _them_. The enemy, the Aliens that we kill. She's no different" He muttered venomously. "Zero knows it himself, she's so badly conditioned, just like the rest of them, that they can't open their eyes to the struggle of our race. Not that she would care anyway"

Brick simply smiled at his response, putting the last of her carbonara spooled around her fork ready to eat. "I think if you stop seeing her as one of them and actually as a being, you'll see what I mean"

Goblin sighed, giving up on arguing his case with Brick, and instead turned to me. "Please tell me you're with me on this? I can't be the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?"

"Sorry, but I'm more with Brick on this. She's just as scared of us as we are of her" I said, shaking my head while slightly pursing my lips at him.

"I'm not scared of her" Golbin responded, finishing his plate and pushing it away from him, and propping his head up with his hand, his elbow resting on the table. I could see where Goblin was coming from, I still believe that the Viper would do anything she could to help Advent as it was, but I see no way for her to be aiding them in this case. And the reason why the Commander and Bradford settled on today to do the mission could be to a multitude of reasons, not just the Viper.

After I finished my meal, Brick stacked all three trays together and stood up to leave, Goblin and I following suit.

"You know, don't sell yourself too short here Goblin, after your last mission performance, I really do think you might make it onto the Black Site mission. But I suppose the Commander does have quite a few people to choose from. Best of luck" She said, turning her head to face Goblin, with a smile on her face.

"Thanks. I know you're getting on it, so it would be nice to finally get a mission with you" He replied, returning her smile. I was glad to see that despite the small dispute on the table, neither let any hard feelings come between them because of it. It's a shame that I was out with the injury, I would have also loved to go on the mission, though there were two better snipers to take other than me on the mission.

"Hey, guys, I'm about to go off to the gym. You wanna join me?" Goblin asked as we left the Cafeteria together. I didn't have anything planned yet, so I didn't see a reason not to go. I just had to remember to take it easy on my arm, as I didn't want to hurt it again. But I hadn't been to the gym in a while either, so I was excited at the idea.

"Yeah, that would be cool, I'll join" I responded, pushing my way beside both of them as we walked along the corridor.

"I think I'll pass" Brick declined, holding up her palm in response to the question. "I was gonna meet with my roommates after lunch. I'll talk to you guys later" She said, heading through the door to our right, which separated off to the rest of the ship, whereas the corridor led down towards the gym and range. The fluorescent lights overhead led the way to the gym, a room that was adorned in mats, with weights machines that looked like they had been constructed with spare materials, but they still looked sturdy. Several dumbells lay on racks against one of the walls, which also had a mirror along it to check for form. There were several larger weights and barbels on the opposite side of the room as well, all in all, there were a lot of things to do in the gym, and despite the Avenger only being able to build this by supplies scavenged either by the resistance or by X-com itself, it was still a good gym area, even if it was a little more on the small side.

Goblin held the doors open for me as we walked in, and proceeded to head straight for the dumbells. Goblin was both taller and stronger than I was, so I wasn't looking to compare what I could do with him, not that I'd be able to do much with my arm in the state it is in. I started on machines working my legs, including the leg press, leg curls and leg extensions. I always aimed to do 10 reps for the weight I was using, and doing 4 sets of these before moving onto the next one. While I couldn't lift quite as much as Goblin probably could, I could still put quite a bit on and not struggle horrifically. It was nice being back at the gym, however. It felt like I could get back into my routine, it made me feel quite comfortable just being here. Usually, it was also a little busier, there would often be one of two others also working out at the same time, but it was just Goblin and me for the time being. I settled down for about 20 to 25 minutes, almost forgetting that I had someone in the gym with me, until he called out my name.

"Zero, come spot me please?" He asked, stood by one of the benches, a stand attached to the top of it with a barbel on it. It looked like he had racked quite a lot of weight on it, and so would need my help in case he dropped it. I got up from the machine I was working on, taking a moment to find my legs amongst the slight stretching I could feel in them. Goblin lay down on the bench, his hands grasping the bar, whilst I stood past the stand and by his head, so I could grab the bar and pull it back up if he needed me to. Now that I was closer, I could see he was trying to push 100kg, which I had heard him brag about doing previously, so I'm sure he would be fine without my input.

"So, Zero..." He muttered, taking the barbel off of the stand and to his chest, before bringing it back up again. I could see the muscles in his arms tense up and his chest expand outward slightly as he did so. "I wanted to ask you in private, really, while Brick was away..." He took the weight to his chest again, pushing it back up without a noise. "Whether you actually care too much for this Viper"

I watched on as he continued his reps, trying to decipher his question and why he asked it. Did he really think my answer would be that much different without Brick around?

"What do you mean by too much?" I responded as he pushed up from his 6th repetition. He held it up in the air for a brief moment, before repeating again, this time letting out a small grunt as he lifted the bar. The fatigue was starting to set in.

"Look...There's not really a nice way to phrase this. I saw you miss the two shots on the Viper on the mission. I'm asking if that's because you feel sorry for the thing stuck in one of our dorm rooms" He muttered through his breaths. I felt anger at his words, anger at being accused again of missing my shots on purpose. Who did he take me to be?

"Those shots were missed because I aimed badly, because I had a shit day. It was nothing to do with the Viper, nothing to do with me feeling sorry for her" I snapped, letting the anger seep into my voice. He completed another rep, struggling more with this one, taking a few breaths in between his sentences.

"See, I can't believe you when you say that, cause you're getting so damn cozy with the Viper. You know that given a second chance she'd kill you and run, right?" He panted, lowering the bar another time and pushing it up slowly, his chest pushing out with it, as he gritted his teeth. I placed my hands on the bar either side of his, as he struggled to pull it up to full height, lifting it the rest of the way back into the stand. He let his arms flop beside him, then sat up and turned to face me.

"I know. I know that's the case" I sighed. "And I treat her as such. But I don't go around threatening to shoot her over nothing" I shot back. I saw him huff in distaste at my comments, massaging one of his arms with his hand.

"She needs to know her place here. That she is a captive, not a fucking honored guest. But you see, here's what I think, I think that Brick's on a quest to prove that we can get along with the Aliens, and you're just trying to save a 'sentient being' because it has fucking tits" He shot back at me, his voice measured and cool.

I could feel my face go red at his words, a mixture of slight embarrassment, and a lot of anger. "You don't know anything. Brick's stood in between the Viper and me several times when the Viper was trying to pick fights with me, she's just trying to protect anything from escalating, and I'm just trying to do my job, nothing else. If being nicer to the Viper achieves this easier, then it happens. I've kept my distance and kept my gun in her direction at all times for the reason that I don't trust her, just like I told you earlier! And, for the record, they aren't 'tits', they're venom sacs" I disputed, almost forgetting to breathe.

"Did you just say that her boobs are 'venom sacs'? How on Earth or any of the planets they come from would you know that?" He almost laughed. "Did she show you them, that's why you feel sorry for her?" He began to chuckle, lying back down on the bench, gripping the bar again with his hands. I could feel my face burn up slightly again, but resumed my position above him before he began to lift.

"No, no, of course not. It's uhh...kind of funny, I guess. She got her shirt stuck on her on one of my shifts when she was in the bathroom, and called for Brick to help her with it. Brick ended up having to tear the shirt to get it off her, I assume because Brick had to...you know, to get the shirt off." I sheepishly explained. Goblin immediately burst out laughing in response.

"Wow, that's hilarious" He let go of the bar again, holding onto one of his hips as he laughed. "I've got something new to tease Brick about, at least. And the Viper for that matter"

He quickly recomposed himself after finishing his laughing, gripping the bar again, and repeating the process, doing the same weight as he lowered it down to his chest and back up with relative ease. He started struggling on the 8th, and the 9th rep looked shaky, with his arms trembling under the weight of the bar, his chest pushing out as far as I'd seen it go. But he went for the 10th rep anyway, lowering it down again to his chest, watching as the bar made contact, before it slowly raised, before getting stuck halfway again. I moved my hands to ease the bar up when he shouted back at me.

"I've got it!" He hissed back through his teeth, which were clenched due to the amount of strength he was using to lift the weight. Slowly, but surely, the weights lifted, as he let out a loud groan, and finally placed them back on the stand, without any input from me. He again let his arms rest over on his chest as his breathing started to slow back down to normal.

"Look, Zero. I just want you to know, that just because I disagree with you about this whole thing about the Viper, doesn't mean I don't have your back in the field. We're X-com, we stand together. I hope you will still be able to say the same to me" He grinned up at me, not pulling the most flattering faces between the sweat forming on his face, the fact I was looking at him upside-down, and that he just wasn't that attractive regardless.

"Of course. I would protect you to my fullest extent when we're in a mission" I agreed, watching him get back up from the racks.

"When you say to your fullest extent, I hope you've practiced your shooting" He smiled at me, nudging my sore arm playfully. A dull pain shot through my arm, as it felt like it started pulsing briefly under the impact, almost as if it was just a bruise he had hit, rather than a gunshot wound. "And, I think with that, I'll head off. Thanks for spotting me, Zero"

I watched him head out the door, still thoroughly confused by his almost immediate switch from completely serious with a raised voice, to making jokes about it. I'm glad he wasn't holding it as a personal grudge that we disagreed, otherwise I might end up sitting on the fence in a constant dispute between Brick and Goblin. That being said, they also seemed to part on good terms. I felt that this was the common feel of X-com, that we were united by the same cause of liberating the human race from the will of the Elders. That disagreements may happen, but they're not important, that in the end, everyone flies under the same banner, that we are all in this together, for better or worse.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 17:21 EST 4/7/2035, location: New Mexico)

That's it. Today is the final day. I have spent my entire life for Advent, I have spent the past 20 years of my life doing little else than walking in circles, appeasing annoying civilians, holding a gun to my chest the entire time, which would grow heavier with each day I had to hold it, wearing armour that was itchier each day I had to wear it. I have been forced to spend months at a time with nothing but troopers for regular company, up in desolated cold mountains patrolling outside a facility, escorted VIPs through the desert in convoys. I have spent every waking moment of my time on Earth doing something that should have bored me out of my mind, yet I have never been as bored as _this_.

There's still something special to exploring the continent, city by city, through being a guard, a routine I desperately wished to return to constantly. But I couldn't handle sitting here in the same room, sitting on the same bed, watching blank faces tote guns at me the entire day. The interrogations brought some spice to my time here, but even these had slowed down. Now, the only entertainment I had was Brick or Zero when they were on one of their shifts. Learning their card game was interesting, and I only wish more soldiers would be up for doing the same, but they all distrusted me too much, which was fair. I didn't trust them either.

My head is constantly filled with 'what ifs' on my fate being resigned here. What if I had just run? What if I had hit Zero on my shot against him? What if I killed Goblin as I held him on the roof? I would have been a hero for Advent two days in a row. I would have got commendations, awards, medals, surely? A higher position within Advent? Maybe even as the new matriarch of my species? Alright, the last was a little hopeful, but it was still a thought that crossed my mind.

But now that I'm here, left alone to my own thoughts pretty much 24/7, I could feel my doubts for my own side whittling away at my resolve. I still had the Speaker's words in my head, ' _We become stronger together, we are stronger united'._ But each time I repeated them, the more insincere they felt. The more I judged the actions of Advent for what they were: The best way to keep a defeated civilization in check. I felt like I argued with myself half the time. Advent was following the will of the Elders, the gods who nurtured my race, and were uplifting a new one into the confederation of species that stood together. 'We are stronger together, we are stronger united'.

What if I was wrong?

My thoughts were interrupted by the door sliding open, the two soldiers who had been rotating keeping a close eye on me left for the door. The two new arrivals I looked to immediately, hoping Brick would come to spare me from my boredom, but alas, it was just Zero, and a second Sniper, the one who just sat and watched the TV the entire time.

"Afternoon" Zero greeted the two soldiers at the door, holding his rifle across his body, not dissimilarly to how I used to hold mine. The other two soldiers greeted him, Deadbolt nodding his head in thanks. No, wait, in greetings, that made more sense.

"Sup. Thanks for filling us in, we'll make sure to give 'em hell" One of them responded, his voice excited, though I couldn't see his face from where I was. I could feel myself lean forwards towards their conversation in interest, despite the fact they were too far away for this to make any sort of difference.

"No worries. Good luck on the Black Site mission" Deadbolt said cooly, as the two soldiers passed them. What was the Black Site? Was it some sort of Advent defensive post they were assaulting? Maybe it was something to do directly with the Elders? I did know one thing, though, was that I was going to get another session of watching the soldiers on the screen go to battle.

"Hey, Unit 19201648" Zero greeted me as he grabbed the buttons for the TV, walking back over towards Deadbolt, who had got his chair ready in the middle of the room, as per usual. The Tv faced was on the other side of the room, so he was faced away from me, leaving Zero to watch over me. He returned to near my bed, placing his rifle against the wall, leaning against the wall himself, next to his rifle, with his hand laying on his holstered pistol. He stood a couple of meters from my bed, so he could keep an eye on me, obviously whilst watching the screen. On his arm, where there had previously been a white bandage, was now just a mark on his skin, which looked kind of splotchy.

"Is your arm healed fully then?" I asked, curious at its state. Zero shook his head in response, watching Deadbolt as he flicked through the channels, not finding the camera he wanted. If the other soldiers who just left were going on the mission, it was going to be a short while before we had any visual, but I don't suppose that stopped his impatience.

"Not quite. It still hurts a bit" He replied, lifting his arm to scratch his neck. "It'll be fine a couple of days though"

"Where's Brick?" I asked, as it was usual to see Zero and Brick guarding me on the same shift. I could already guess at his answer, however.

"She's doing the mission. The Commander has extended our squad size again, so we now take 6 on a mission. Good timing on his behalf" He explained, turning to face the screen again, which I took as him finishing the conversation. Though minutes passed, with the screen flicking from news channel to news channel, showing an array of various human women and men denouncing X-com, though it was impossible to pick up what they were saying exactly, as they were gone before they had a chance to mutter more than three words.

"Zero, did you want to play a game of cards? Rummy?" I asked him, out of boredom, trying to find something to fill the excruciating silence that filled the room.

"Uh...I don't have them on me. They are Brick's, sorry" He apologized, shrugging. "I'll remember to bring them down next time"

I sighed, lying back down in my bed, and staring up at the mattress above me, feeling my tiredness creeping up on me already. I wanted to see the mission, though, as it sounded important.

"If you want something to pass the time, we could play a different game?" Zero asked, still leaning against the wall, turning back to face me, clearly losing interest in Deadbolt's constant flicking through the channels.

"What game?" I hissed, raising myself back up to face him.

"Uh...just a game of questions?" He hesitated, his voice going high at the end of his question.

"That sounds boring" I stated, rolling my eyes at him. But it wasn't like I had a better game to suggest, so I suppose I would just have to take it.

"Well, yes. But you don't have anything better to do. The rules are, that each person takes turns to ask a question, which has to be answered"

"Fine. But no interview questions, I'll stop playing if you're just gonna make me try to give up information. Who starts?"

A slight mischievous grin spread across his features. He obviously had a few lined up for me beforehand regardless. "Let's start easy. Do you have a favorite color?"

What a thoroughly disinteresting question. If he was planning on making me even more bored, it was already working. "Blue. What did you do before X-com?" I shot back immediately, already having my question in my head, and my answer requiring no thought.

"I lived near Boston: City B202. I was still in education, studying computer sciences. Didn't finish the course though. Ok...I suppose I'll steal your question. What did you do before Advent?"

"That's not fair. You have to come up with your own" I complained, but he wasn't backing down. I rolled my eyes at him, before answering. "I lived on a huge ship above in the sky of this planet. I don't remember much of it, it was all fairly generic up there, I guess. I was taught how to hold a gun, how to fire it, how to do my job, all aboard this ship" I responded, trying my best to recall my early days. Growing up on the ship was not easy, especially when reaching maturity, as you were then constantly practicing and working for the good of the Elders. It was very tiring but and important part of my life. I glanced up towards Zero again, running my eyes down his gun, which he still rested his hand on. " How many times have you wanted to shoot me, whilst I've been here?" I asked. I think it caught him off guard, because he seemed to almost stumble on the wall he was leaning on, Deadbolt glancing back at us as I asked the question.

"Umm..." He paused, his face slightly panicked. "Honestly?...like 2 or 3 times. Sorry" He answered, looking away from me as he said it. "Who do you like the least out of all the soldiers who have guarded you?"

"Samurai. He creeps me out, I didn't see him blink once" I responded, shivering.

"Not Goblin?" He asked, breaking his own rules in doing so.

"Ah ah, only one question, remember? Anyway...Are you and Brick dating?" I asked, seeing a blush form across his face. They always seemed a little closer than everyone else was, it made sense for them to be going out.

"What?! No, no!" He refuted immediately. Did I hit a soft spot with that question or something? "She doesn't like me in that way. Well, she doesn't like men, fullstop"

It took me a couple of seconds until I realized what he meant by his answer, which took me a bit of a surprise. I had seen displays of affection between two humans of the same sex before, but I thought that was just normal human behavior. It seems like this sort of behavior isn't readily discouraged, but I've never seen anything like it with another species. I've never heard of a Viper engaging in a bond with another Viper of the same sex, but I didn't know whether to put that down to our culture or that our race served the Elders. Or maybe I just hadn't seen or realized it before, since I didn't spend an awful amount of time with others. But it sounded wrong, surely it defeats the entire point of finding a mate?

Zero was hesitant to ask his next question, but eventually spat it out. "When you were stuck, did Brick actually end up seeing you naked?" I could feel myself blush this time, thankful that it was never as obvious as the human's faces made it. Another Viper would have been able to tell that I was embarrassed at the question, but I didn't think Zero would be able to notice.

"Yes. Yes, she did. I could see her looking at me in the mirror. I didn't think much of it until now, either" I hissed in response, embarrassed now that I had learned the fact the Brick preferred women. But she seemed professional enough about it, apart from a couple of times I caught her glancing at me. "Okay...which of the soldiers here do you like?" I asked with a smirk, watching him fidget slightly. Deadbolt was still going through the channels, at a somewhat slower pace than he was before. I had a feeling he was concentrating on my conversation with Zero more than the TV at this point.

"I don't have anyone on the ship that I 'like'" He responded, stressing the word like to indicate he meant more than friends. He seemed almost sad that he was able to say this statement as if he wished he did have somebody to name in response to my question. His hand moved from his gun into the pocket of his black trousers, a clothing item I had learned to be 'tracksuits', while his other hand picked at the bottom of his shirt.

"Guys, shut up. The stream is up" Deadbolt interrupted our crappy game, though Zero's questions were rather tame for the format of the game. I averted my gaze from Zero and to the TV, which showed the very outside of an Advent base filled with Advent fields, which could be used as low cover, but otherwise just shone a red field of plasma up to set a boundary, usually used to depict the edge of the facility grounds, or to keep civilians to stick to a line instead of crowding. 6 soldiers rappelled down from the Skyranger outside the facility, in the cover of the trees of the forest nearby.

"So who is on this mission?" I asked, getting an unexpected reply from Deadbolt, instead of Zero.

"Brick, Vandal, Angel, Echo, Goblin, and Nero" He listed, without any hesitation. "2 Grenadiers, 3 Ranger, and 1 Specialist. No Snipers, unfortunately," He laughed, turning back around to face Zero. "Still a little pissed I get to miss out on this mission"

The 6 soldiers moved up towards the facility, sticking behind cover as they approached. The camera picked up the first guard patrol, 2 Mutons and a Viper. I watched with interest as the three Rangers split up, taking up flanking positions around the patrol, remaining in the shadows, whilst the two Grenadiers sat in low cover as close as they could get. The specialist at the back of the squad lined up his rifle and fired 5 shots at the Muton stood at the center of the patrol. All 5 connected, and I thought the Muton would fall under the firepower, but he stood through it, his yellow eyes snapping straight to the specialist, and raised his outstretched bulky arm in that direction.

As soon as they moved, the two Grenadiers opened their canons into the two Mutons. both falling under the firepower, as the Viper made her way to cover, only to find a shotgun pointed directly at her, as she sprawled across the floor, peppered with the shell. The two Rangers who did not fire moved up at the front of the group, the other 4 following close behind. The styled through the Advent fields, approaching the door to the first part of the facility. I had often been stationed outside the front of these facilities, but never with two Mutons, this facility must be important. The first building was usually relatively uninteresting, just a bunch of consoles, I believe for transmissions and communications.

The two Rangers again ran around the side of the building, taking up flanking positions again. As they moved up, the camera revealed the presence of another Alien squad, a Captain, a Trooper and a Stun Lancer, the telltale red suit and electric blade making the two specialized units stand out more. Brick opened the door to the room, dashing into full cover without second thought, the second Grenadier firing a grenade towards the three troops. I thought back to the day of my capture, where two troopers ate a grenade, perishing immediately, but the grenade the blew up destroyed their cover, shrapnel embedding into their armor, but none fell, not even the trooper. Had they received better armor?

The specialist was next to take his shot, felling the Captain as he used a second five round burst, the hot rounds piercing through the armor making the Captain fall backward into the consoles behind him. The final Ranger too breached the building, firing his shotgun, but missing his shot at the Stun Lancer.

The Lancer dashed straight towards the Ranger that had just shot at him, striking him with his blade, as the Ranger staggered under the hit, enduring the electricity running through him. The Trooper found full cover as well, targeting Brick with his rifle, but only hit the wall she was behind. Brick rounded the corner as soon as the fire stopped, launching a grenade to demolish the pillar the Trooper stood behind, the second blast enough to kill him. The Specialist moved up, as the other Grenadier shot down the Lancer, keeping his fire away from the Ranger, who was trying to find his feet from the hit still. The drone that flew with the Specialist hovered over the Ranger, before releasing the medkit spray over him.

"Damn...they're making good time, two squads down with only one wound so far..." Zero said, standing up from the wall, leaving his rifle laying against it. I could see a yawn escape from the Sniper sat in front of me, almost as if he was bored. Isn't this what he was excited to see in the first place?

Watching the X-com squad annihilate Advent with such precision scared me. This is what we were fighting against the entire time, nothing more than literal shadows. None of the squads had been able to do anything other than raising the alarm, alerting the other facility patrols. How did I even manage to survive that long against these guys, let alone actually kill one?

They passed through the building, nothing of interest there, moving towards the landing zone of the facility. The expanse of the landing zone currently held two ships, each with several crates on the floor near them. They must have been unloading new supplies. Past the ships, a brilliant tall white building stood, I had never seen a facility like it. The walls were lined with several of the Advent windows, each with lasers across them, and a large door at the front.

"That's the Black Site facility alright" Zero said under his breath. "It's huge..." I had to agree with him, I had never seen anything the size of it before, not in person.

The group moved up, using the ships for cover as they approached the facility. The Ranger went first, opening the door and slowly looking inside. The camera moved to show the inside of the building, the same as the Rangers could see. Inside, the two Rangers found themselves in a small room, with a desk at the far side, and a door on their right. The group moved up closer, the Rangers pushing through into the next room. I wouldn't have been able to imagine what it must have felt like to see what was in the next room in person, but dread filled me regardless as the scene came into view. A huge, green pool lay in the middle of the floor, with a towering stack of green canisters hoisted above it, in a 4 by 6 matrix. The walls either side were lined with similar containers, all filled with the green substance, all having a silhouette outlined in every single one.

"Are those..." I paused, unsure if my suspicions were true, unsure if my eyes were actually correct.

"Humans" Zero finished my sentence, moving forward to see the screen, past my bed. "So this is where they all go..."

"Who are you talking about?" I asked, unsure if I ever actually wanted to hear the answer.

"My friends...my family...people from the cities. The people that use Advent's gene clinics only to never return...They wind up here..." He mumbled, sounding completely lost and empty. Was he correct? The gene clinics that were in almost every single town or city, A class, B class or C class, that offered so much potential to the human race, it brought the Elder's greatest gift to everyone. Why would he think that the gene clinics were where people were abducted? Is this actually the case?

In the room stood an Advent Mec, on one of the walkways lining the green pool, with two troopers next to it. The Mec was a glistening white, I had seen a lot of these models around in towns before, all of the heavy weaponry was disguised on their smooth exterior, another effort by Advent to appease civilians a little more.

The Rangers filed into the room, still unseen by the Mec as the other 4 took their place in the front room of the facility. The Mec touched a few buttons on the console beside it, as the matrix of canisters slowly lowered into the green pool, one by one, the 24 humans embalmed in the liquid disappeared from sight. Pipes also lay around the pool, leaving the pool up to the ceiling of the facility, and traveling across towards the back rooms. What in the Elders' names was actually going on here?

The Mec moved along the walkway, the two troopers following it closely, walking closer and closer to the two concealed Rangers, both equipped with Shotguns. I know Vandal tended not to use a shotgun, so the Commander must have asked him specifically to use it for this mission. As soon as they halted their movement for a bit, the four soldiers ran into the room, finding cover wherever they could, behind pipes, behind consoles, behind walls. The Mec seemed to extend itself, its head raised as it outstretched one of its robotic arms towards the group. As soon as it started moving towards them, the two Rangers stood up from their cover, each blasting its chest plate with a full shell, downing the Mec onto the walkway immediately. The two troopers started retreating, falling back towards the rooms the other side of the pool. One of them paused briefly at a console, tapping something in, before it was gunned down by Brick, falling precariously close to the pool, but not quite in.

Bright red alarms started flashing, and I could only imagine what kind of noise it was making. The squad seemed to double its efforts, the two Rangers chasing down the final trooper, one of them drawing their sword and cutting him down before he could make it to the next door. I saw the camera pan, following the Ranger, to outside. The camera peered through the Window, where I could make out 4 Vipers, all of the same coloration, and 1 taller Viper, of a rusty brown hue, with black streaks travelling down her body, wearing black armor that sported a gold streak along the front edges, signifying her position.

"My Matriarch!" I gasped, keeping my volume down. This is why they were attacking today, after all, it was to kill my species leader. Why did I have to let them know about the existence of my species ruler? Zero was still glued to the screen, not looking back towards me or acknowledging what I said at all.

The four Vipers rushed forward towards the two Rangers, one spitting poison at both of them, whilst two more used their tongues to bind both of them, yanking them through the window the camera was looking through, both trapped, whilst my Matriarch retreated, climbing quickly up the side of a small ledge using the vines on the side, though she looked to be struggling with it considerably. I could just make out the red flare zone, where she was to be extracted.

The two Grenadiers moved up quickly, reaching the same place as the Rangers were just taken from. The male Grenadier leveled his weapon at one of the Vipers holding the Rangers, the bullets seeming to trace the outline of the Viper's head, but none making a connection. Brick loaded her second grenade, firing it through the window. It was the most beautiful grenade I had ever seen, landing equidistant between the two Vipers currently binding the Rangers, as the grenade kicked up dust and earth from the ground as it exploded. Once it settled, I saw the grenade had hit both of the Vipers, yet left the Rangers completely unharmed, unscathed from the explosion, who then shot down the other two Vipers.

The Advent Dropship appeared above them, its four floating jets slowing it down to a halt as it lowered down a single rope for my Matriarch. The Specialist dove through the window, finding the cover of a tree, despite the fact that my Matriarch held no weapons, and lined up her rifle. 5 shots rang out again, towards her. I saw them hit, but almost deflect off of her scales, only grazing her below her armor. I could see her hiss in pain, as she fumbled for the rope, being pulled up before any more shots could be made off on her.

I was so angry that they were going on a mission to kill my species leader, angry that she was their target. Were they actually just going to let me sit here and watch as they tried their best to decimate my race? I watched, seething in silence, as the group headed back inside the building, back into the final room, where there stood a large podium, with a singular vial placed on the middle. The whole team paused, looking around it, before Brick stepped forward, closing her fingers around the vial gingerly, placing it in her armor.

The Specialist split from the group momentarily, before the rest followed as he seemed to call out to them. He had found some sort of trapdoor that had stairs below it. I could see Zero shaking his face in disbelief at the situation, still speechless. I looked over towards Deadbolt as well, not having heard a peep from him from the very beginning. Was he...asleep? I think he was actually asleep. His head was lulled to the side, not watching the TV, one of his arms flopped down by his side. I felt my breath catch in my throat, my heart beating fast, as I made my decision. I didn't want to be here forever. I didn't want to watch as they mercilessly hunted down my Matriarch, I didn't want to be here. I slowly moved from my bed, eyes on Zero the entire time, careful not to make any sound whatsoever. By my calculations, Zero was still stood just outside of the cameras range, and now no longer had his rifle on him, now was the only chance I would ever get to escape.

I continued glancing towards the screen as I made my move, the stairs leading to a pearly white interior, tiles lining the floor, the walls lined with large blue tanks, almost twice the size of the humans observing them. Consoles lay interspersed between the various groups of tanks, as the camera approached one of the tanks for a closer look. My jaw dropped as I realized what it was, the body of a Viper unmistakeable, the telltale diamond pattern on her tail, the exact same coloration on each of them as the camera panned past them. They were clones, clones at a facility that my Matriarch was at. I always thought that the clones were directed by Advent? If it was Advent, was was my Matriarch at a facility heading the cloning of my species? She knows...but if she knows, then why is it still happening?

I saw Zero start to peel away from the screen to face back towards me as he saw the Vipers, I knew I had to move now.

"Oh my god...are those clo...!" He began to speak, his sentence cut off in surprise as I rapidly coiled myself around his body, grabbing his mouth with my hand to stop him screaming or waking up Deadbolt. He was so squishy as I tightened myself around him, making him sink to his knees underneath my weight. It was so different than coiling around a soldier in the field, their armor much more solid, rubbing and prodding into the scales, but something about squeezing a human without the protection of Kevlar was so much more satisfying. His scared eyes looked up into mine, almost begging me to stop. I suppressed the feeling of guilt rising up through me, tensing my jaw to overcome my own feelings, to overcome his puppy dog eyes. He struggled in vain in my coil, unable to do much more than shift his arms slightly around. Slowly, but surely, his eyes began to close, his mouth desperately trying to steal air through my hand, his chest being crushed with every attempt he made for air.

"I'm sorry, Zero..." I let my guilt overcome me, finally closing my eyes, not wanting to look at my prey anymore. I felt disgusted with myself for doing that to one of the few people who seemed to care for me, but it was necessary for my escape, now I just had to find a way past the two guards at the door...

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 17:47 EST 4/7/2035, location: New Mexico)

As Unit 19201468 coiled tighter and tighter around me, I tried desperately to concentrate, my chest was in extreme pain like something was piercing me inside, no breath going in or out. My arm struggled desperately, having a slight amount of space as I felt myself losing consciousness... I managed to reach my pocket, slipping my hand slowly inside, trying to reach the small penknife I carried around with me, my fingers brushing against the handle repeatedly before I could pick it up. I heard the Viper in my final moments of being awake.

"I'm sorry, Zero..." She hissed, in an almost sorrowful way. Without thinking, I found the button on my penknife to extend it, and jammed it in the side of the Viper the best I could, pulling up with my arm and twisting my wrist. It had the desired effect, as I listened to her hiss in pain, as her coil loosened from me enough for me to wriggle. I pulled my arms out, ripping her hand from me, and pushing my way out of her tail, rolling towards my rifle, I grabbed it as I exited the roll, snapping the scope to aim directly at her, my hand holding the penknife in my palm whilst my finger wrapped around the trigger, as she backed away toward her bed, cowering slightly, her hands raised in front of her in surrender. I could now see the cut I made on her, making her wince as I watched her now. It was about a foot in length, somewhat jagged, but also shallow. I could see her murky green blood escape from the wound, staining the carpet underneath, though it wouldn't be that noticeable.

I could feel the sweat rolling down my cheek, as I panted to recover the breath stolen from me, looking the Viper dead in the eye, as she returned the eye contact, with fearful red eyes.

"Give me...one reason...why I shouldn't just...fucking shoot you right here..." I panted between breaths, holding the rifle steady, pointing it towards her chest.

I could see her desperately try to think, desperately try to come up with absolutely anything to make me not shoot. I don't think I would be able to shoot her directly, I had her beat whether I missed or not. Deadbolt was asleep, I only noticed once I was being attacked.

"Zero...I'm sorry..." she started, almost breaking into tears as she spoke.

"I want a reason. Give me a fucking solid reason, right now" I growled. She shook her head slowly from side to side, looking down towards the floor. She looked like she would make a break for it at any given moment

"You might miss..." She tried, her voice nervous, staggered, as she glanced down towards her wound, before locking her gaze with mine.

"I'm not trying to hit you. If I shoot, Deadbolt wakes up. The two guards from the corridor come in" I threatened. Why the hell was I giving the Viper an out for this at all? I was right, if I just shoot, I'm safe. But then she's also likely to die, there's no way Bradford would keep her around if he knew she did this. "Once they come in, you'll be off to the black market, where you'll be killed in a much, much more brutal way than I could do myself" I could see the panic spread across her face, her mouth agape slightly, as she was desperately trying to think.

She sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity, whereas it was probably only around 20 seconds, closing her eyes, either resigning herself to her fate or using everything she could to find something to say, I couldn't tell which. She opened her eyes, avoiding my gaze, slowly straightening up on her tail, coiling the injured part behind her and leaning back slightly, her hands still in the surrender gesture, either side of her neck, before she slowly moved them down her body. I tensed my grip on the rifle, ready to shoot the second I saw her move towards me.

In one quick move, her hands crossed over each other, grabbing the hemline at the bottom of her shirt, pulling up the shirt in a fast motion, over her body, over her chest, over her hood, in one fluid action, discarding the shirt onto her bed. I was too shocked to react immediately, staring at her with uncertainty, as she continued. Her head tilted down slightly, with her eyes giving me a sultry look, as her hands found their way to her body, one starting to caress one of her venom sacs on her chest, whilst the other started to trace down a line, moving down away from her chest. I snapped out of my stare the moment she did so, turning my head away from her so as to avert my gaze, whilst keeping my rifle up.

"Alright!" I hissed under my breath, lowering my rifle, and putting my knife back in my pocket, before my now free hand squeezed on my temple, trying to get the image of the Viper out of my head. "Alright, fine, just stay fucking there" I cursed, turning away from her, raising my open palm towards her briefly in a 'stop' gesture. I turned towards the bathroom, glancing back at her just before I entered, still without clothing, her hands now balled in front of her chest, the worried look adorning her face yet again. I headed in, closing the door behind me, dropping my rifle to the floor, and running my hand through my hair in exasperation. What in the fuck just happened? I was stuck between trying not to think about what the Viper was doing and trying to understand what the Viper was doing. Did she actually just try and offer herself to me in exchange for her life? I suppose put like that it doesn't sound so bad, but I didn't want to think about it. It was wrong, it was not a way I should ever portray an Alien, a Xeno.

I grabbed the first aid kit from the wall in the bathroom, opening it up to find bandages, antiseptic wipes, and finally, what I was looking for, a medkit, single use. I pulled it from its container, taking some of the wipes with me, opening the door, leaving my rifle inside the bathroom, as I moved back towards the still naked Viper.

"Put your clothes on" I ordered, reaching past her to grab the shirt from the bed, as she took it gingerly from me.

"I... t-thought that...we were going to..." She stammered, obviously referring to her proposition earlier to try and get me to not shoot.

"Just put it on. I don't have any interest, I don't want to see your venom sacs or anything past that. It was just desperate enough to make me make my mind up" I responded sharply, kneeling down. "Give me your tail"

She obliged, watching me as I moved her tail towards me more. It was only a light wound, so while it would have been thoroughly painful, it would be healed very easily by a standard medkit spray. I wiped away the blood that was trailing in between her scales, using three cloths to do so, before I moved onto the wound itself. I carefully sprayed the light blue gel onto the wound, watching the Viper contort in the pain that the medkits often brought. Slowly, the wound started to heal up, reversing the effects of my small blade, closing the wound to reform the scales back on top. The Viper watched in both pain and awe, as I stood back up to face her, she was still frozen, t-shirt in hands.

"Put it on!" I muttered, watching her hastily pull it back on, inside out due to how she took it off. She hesitantly looked at me, waiting for me to do something.

"...When you say Venom sacs...do you mean my boobs?" She asked timidly, her voice quivering. "Because they're not venom sacs..."

"Well then, what are they?" I asked, unconsciously stealing a glance down towards them, possibly as a response to us talking about them.

"...well, just boobs. Same as humans, mostly fatty. We store venom in glands in our heads" She stated quietly. I paused for a moment before shaking my head briefly, putting both of my hands up into my face and rubbing it, unsure of what to do.

"It doesn't matter. Alright, why the hell did you attack me?" I asked, making sure to keep my voice steady and even, resting my hand back near the holster for my pistol. I was quite close to her, to the point where I could probably headbutt her if I moved my head forwards more. I could still see the panic and fright in her eyes, though it was definitely more relaxed than when I had the gun pointed at her. I only noticed now the very slight discoloration to her face, her cheeks a slightly lower shade of amber than the rest of her face. Was she blushing?

"I'm sorry, Zero, I really am. I wanted to get out of here, it's been my best opportunity since I arrived," She spluttered out quickly, taking a moment to swallow. "The cameras don't point towards me here, which I was I attacked you when you were here"

I took a moment to breathe again, trying to keep my calm and think about the situation. If I told anyone this happened, she was dead. I didn't want her to die because of me, but at the same time, it felt stupid just letting her attack me like that without any repercussions. But I don't think there was a middle ground where she could be punished accordingly, without anyone knowing about it. But I felt better about giving mercy to the Viper, like I was making the right choice, despite knowing that it probably wasn't. I took my phone from my pocket, glancing at the time. My shift was almost over, and they certainly couldn't see any trace of this.

"Alright, your shirt is on inside out. I'm going to go grab my rifle from the bathroom, and give you half a minute to fix yourself. I'll come out, wake up Deadbolt, and I won't mention that this happened. Okay?" I explained, watching her nod feverishly in response, as I turned to go to the bathroom.

"Thank you, Zero" She sighed in relief, her voice slightly broken as she mumbled her words. I grabbed my rifle from the bathroom, keeping my word as I waited inside for her to change the shirt. All the time I couldn't get out of my head the fact that she decided to do this to get out of trouble. If I was captured, or anyone, for that matter, that kind of crap would never work, and be more likely to get me killed. And I suppose another concern was did the Viper see me in the way that she expected me to see her? Surely she knows that a human would never see an Alien in that light, would they? I say this now, but the more I'm asking these questions, the more I am thinking about the Viper naked. I shook the thoughts from my head, trying to put on a fresh start, as I left the toilet. She was curled back up on her bed, duvet over her, peering from behind the edge of the duvet. I took another breath, in one last effort to compose myself, before I woke up Deadbolt.

"Deadbolt, man. Are you asleep?" I asked, shaking his shoulder gently. He slowly opened his eyes, pulling his head back up from his shoulder, and looking around slightly.

"Did I actually just fall asleep?" He said in a groggy voice. "What happened to the mission" He quickly snapped back, almost completely alert, and jumped out of his chair towards the tv, which was now black, the camera having been turned off.

"Sorry, didn't even realize you fell asleep. They did it fine, no casualties, 3 wounded and retrieved a vial from there. It was a human processing plant of some sort" I explained briefly. Deadbolt eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? Damn, are they still abducting people that regularly?" He shook his head, grabbing the chair and putting it to the side of the room.

"They also found a Viper cloning section underneath the plant. And their Matriarch was there, but she escaped" I again informed, watching Deadbolt give me a blank stare, probably unsure how to act. He glanced over towards Unit 19201468 and back to me.

"And she was okay with that?" He asked quietly, so she couldn't hear, but she probably could have regardless.

"Yeah, I haven't spoken to her about it yet. She's just been in her bed," I pointed towards her briefly. "But our shift's ending now, anyway. Good timing, I guess."

"I swear I spent most of my time flicking through the damn channels. Oh well" He shrugged, leading the way to the door. As he opened it, the two new soldiers had already arrived to take over our guard. I gave one last glance to the Viper before I left the room, a long gaze that she too held with me, until the door broke our sight.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

(Sergeant 'Zero', 11:20 EST 4/8/2035, location: New Mexico)

I woke up in my bed this morning, no alarm, no noises, no shouting from anyone asking me to do something. Just peace. Peace and quiet. But I knew as soon as I tried moving, I would immediately be back in pain. Even thinking about moving made my chest begin to hurt again, right in the center, it felt as if it restricted my ability to breathe. I know that I should really go see the Doctor about it, but I couldn't risk doing so, without all the probing questions. I didn't have any sort of excuse to come up with why my chest hurt, or if anything I did come up with would ever get past scrutiny.

After I left the Viper with the second guard, the adrenaline rush I had felt as I was struggling in her grasps was gone, and my chest felt like it had caved in slightly. I only hoped that it was similar to Brick's injury when she was constricted, where it's just some bruising that would wear off. I didn't _think_ anything was broken, but I'm no medical professional, and the pain certainly seemed exacerbated from yesterday. I slowly raised myself up, trying my best to ignore the sharp pulling at my chest. Again, I pondered my own reasons for sticking my neck out for the Viper like this, like a small doubt niggling away at the back of my mind. But I didn't want to be responsible for her death, even if it meant lying to those that I was with. I gingerly made my wait out of my bunk, moving slowly to reduce the discomfort. After putting my clothes on with a little difficulty, I headed down to the training center, towards the practice range, to try and take my mind off of things. Once I had got moving, the pain began to dull slightly more, I felt like I was getting used to it, and more importantly, I felt that it was much better disguised now.

It was a long walk towards the practice range, as it was located right at the bottom of the ship, so that any noise from the range would not interrupt those who were asleep, and because there was a lot more room down there. I opened the heavy steel door to the firing range, where 5 different stalls were lined up in front of me, each one had a singular target down the other side, with varying lengths away. They were in increments of 15 meters, starting at 10, and going up to 70 meters. Echo was currently in the 25-meter range stall, with a shotgun in hand. Before the stalls, several weapons hung up on the wall to my side, already updated with the new mag weapons, including the mag pistol.

I walked past Echo, neither of us taking note of each other, though I wasn't even sure if she knew I was there. I carefully removed the sniper rifle and pistol off of the holds that kept them in place and carried them over to the fifth and final stall. The rounds provided weren't the same as our live ammunition, we didn't have enough resources for it. Instead, the projectiles were made from a cheap alloy or metal, I couldn't tell what it was, but it still felt similar. I heard a series of loud cracks, with the whirring of the gun in between, as Echo unleashed a clip on the target in front of her, all four rounds. The targets at the other end were simple card targets, which could be operated on a pulley via a button on each stall to pull them closer for inspection and to change.

I put on the ear muffs that were on the desk in front of me, placing my rifle and pistol on my left as I took the correct rounds from the ammunition supplied, filling each weapon one round at a time. I still felt burdened with the shots that I missed, Firehawk was right, I could have led somebody to their death with my inability, I'm surprised that I haven't been removed from the roster for it. I picked up my rifle first, bring the gun slowly back into my shoulder, resting my head near the butt of the gun, looking down the scope of the weapon. I let my left hand find my favorite place along the barrel, just beyond where the scope lay, as I drew my breath in slowly, steadying the scope in line with the head of the target down the range. I could feel my heart beat in my chest as my finger started to slowly press down the trigger. I felt my focus lose its peripherals, focusing only on the head of the target in front of me, like this next shot was what stood between someone's life or death. I gradually let my breath leave my lungs, and pressed down on the trigger, ever so slightly more than I had before, but enough to fire the weapon. I heard momentarily the small whirring sound of the magnetic weapon, before the round launched from the weapon, visibly traveling down the range, and smashing into the wall beside the target. I fired off the remaining the rounds of rifle, the first two finding the shape of a body marked the cutout, whilst the last clipped the side the card, another miss. I lay the weapon down in front of me, staring wide-eyed down the range, before removing my ear muffs again.

"You're pulling the shot to your left" A voice called behind me, startling me from my daydream, or rather, nightmare. "The weapon had a very slight delay from when you press the trigger to when it fires, and you sway to your left after you press the trigger"

I turned around to face Echo, who stood against the wall at the back, observing me with sharp eyes. "Pardon?"

She gave me a slight look of annoyance, pushing herself off of the wall. "Watch" She muttered, pushing past me to the stall, sending a sharp pang on pain up through my chest as she did so, but I managed to conceal it well enough. 70 meters, and she picked up the pistol, holding it in front of her with two hands, her feet standing just over shoulder length apart, leaving the muffs on the desk. "Watch my finger, then watch the shot" She explained, as her finger pulled the trigger, one of the metallic rounds flew from the barrel, snapping against the card target. It had just narrowly missed the chest of the target, I could just make out the hole from here. But she was completely correct, there was an ever so slight delay on the shot, that was almost unnoticeable unless you were looking out for it.

I stood in silence as she turned back around to me, one hand on her hip, the other limply holding the pistol in front of me by the handle. I carefully took the weapon from her, taking her place at the stand. I turned side on, holding up the pistol with one hand extended down the range, my eye fixing the sights with each other, before I pressed down the trigger, this time focusing on the shot rather than when I pulled the trigger. I kept my hand steady, as the projectile fired from the pistol, the familiar snap of card sounding back out towards us. I pressed the button to my right, watching the pulley system rapidly bring the target towards us. My shot was perfectly placed down the center of the target, a hole burnt into the stomach of the humanoid figure drawn out onto the card. I turned back around to Echo, I think just catching a glimpse of a small smile.

"Echo...Thank you...I..." I tried to thank, struggling with the words I wanted to say.

"Thank me later. I'm just happy that it was the weapons that you weren't used to, and not your aim" She responded, pausing slightly after she said it, before recapturing my gaze with hers. "Zero...I just need an answer... The shots you missed on the Viper weren't on purpose, right? I know you denied it earlier..."

"They weren't on purpose" I snapped, interrupting her, as she rolled her eyes.

"So you wouldn't hesitate to shot a Viper out there if it captures one of us again?"

"Of course I wouldn't" I agreed. "I would never miss a shot on purpose"

"And what if our Viper stepped out of line. What if she attacked one of us. Would you still shoot her then?" She questioned, her eyes narrowing as she tested me. Even though she was smaller than I was, I still felt slightly intimidated. And why would she ask that question? There's no way that she saw the Viper actually attack...and for that matter, I would have to lie, unless I wanted another enemy on the ship.

"...I'd shoot her if it was necessary" I responding, after hesitating due to the coincidence of the question. I could see her mouth corners form a frown very slightly, crossing her arms.

"Why in the hell did you even hesitate? Are you seriously saying that she means something to you, or is it your sense of honor that's stopping you from just answering 'yes'?" She pressed, clearly unhappy with my answer. What was she accusing me of exactly?

"For all I care, she can go to the Black Market if she takes a single step out of line. I would prefer not to shoot her, but I do not care for her life" I replied carefully, I could sense that my voice carried hostility in its reply, hoping that it was a mere coincidence that she was mentioning the Viper attacking someone. It felt as though there was some honesty with this reply, however. Truly, if the Viper did anything from here on out, then I would definitely not object to her being sold. But it seemed to do the trick, Echo nodding slightly in agreement to my opinion.

"Good. I'm not going to let you be the reason anyone dies on this ship" She said, walking past me and back to her station picking up the shotgun and reloading it once more. Something about her just sort of scared me, she would make a great interrogator. I too returned to my station and pressing the button to send the target back down the range. I grabbed my rifle, pressing it firmly into my shoulder as I steadied the sights, briefly drawing in my breath, and closing my finger down on the trigger, listening to the slight whirring of the weapon as it launched its second round down the range, the kick almost negligible. Under Echo's advice, by keeping the barrel steady for longer than I had actually intended, indeed, my target found its mark, a nice circular hole right through the head of the card cutout, visible from where I stood. I glanced back over to Echo, seeing her watching me with approval, before returning to shooting at her own targets.

I felt elated that I had found out the problem of my shooting, plus it was a hell of a lot easier to blame the weapon rather than the user. But I still had to practice my pistol marksmanship, specifically switching quickly to the pistol whilst holding the sniper rifle, and I could see this taking up the majority of my time today. But it was work I had to do, though made easier because I was slightly looking forward to it. Unfortunately, tomorrow didn't look as good, as I would be back on guard duty with the Viper, with Brick again. Undoubtedly, Brick would bring her cards, so we would end up playing Rummy again, and I might be a little paranoid, but I figured that if I wasn't going to join in with the card games, Brick might suspect something. Part of me desperately wanted to tell Brick, just to let somebody I trusted know what the hell happened, it was painful just holding onto the information myself. But I know that I shouldn't, that I couldn't. At this point, I would be reprimanded too for my silence, so I suppose I at least had a personal reason to bite my tongue.

Every moment I didn't spend distracting myself, however, was still filled with the thoughts from yesterday. Replaying through the situation, from the mission on the Black site itself, as I turned to see the Viper trying to attack me, her softening eyes as I stared up into her face, desperate. Watching it contort in pain as I freed myself, the look of helplessness she then tried to return as I turned the tables. The wound marking the side of her tail, oozing her blood onto the carpet as she winced from the pain. The snapshot of her that I saw after she took off her top, the pale beige color of her underbelly extending all the way up to her neck, curving inwards in a way that resembled hips, the pale beige colour broken only by her deep amber patterns slightly above her 'hips' that encroached downwards and inward, her lustful gaze, even with a flick of her tongue, as she made her best attempt to seduce me. It was an oddly human mannerism, and not one I would have suspected a Viper of knowing of, but she did it none the less.

As much as I could try, the image of her standing in front of me wouldn't leave, whenever my thoughts trailed. Even between reloading my rifle and pistol, she haunted my mind. Most of me wished I could put it out of my head, to put the entire incident behind me, but I couldn't help but be slightly curious. She said that her venom sacs...her breasts, that they were actually just that. They weren't large, by any means, but a more moderate size, not dissimilar to what you would expect on a human, in proportion to her body. If her upper anatomy was mostly the same as a human's, what other parts did her species share with us? Is that what the patterns that marked her body indicated?

 _Focus, Zero...Focus..._

I shook my head, as I loaded my final round into the pistol, as I took my position with my sniper rifle in hand, my pistol at my hip in its holster. Aiming down the scope, I took a shot at the head of the fresh, blank target, quickly drawing my pistol with my right hand as the rifle lay in the grip of my left, snapping the pistol up to target and firing it quickly, all within the space of a couple of seconds, two shots lay on the target in front of me, one right in the head, and the second in the chest. I couldn't help but glance towards Echo to see if she had seen what I had achieved, but saw her, as expected, focusing on her own shooting, and not mine. I placed the weapon down on the desk in front of me, replacing the sheet of card, and then putting the weapons away. As I was heading out, I glanced back once more at Echo, seeing her looking back at me, giving me a slight nod, before turning back to her shooting.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 18:30 EST 4/9/2035, location: New Mexico)

Each moment I spent in this room was wracked with fear, fear that Zero could have at any point told anyone what had happened, fear that someone had pieced something together that they saw from the cameras, fear that the number of hours I remained here was now limited. But nothing had happened so far, and I was still safe, for now. No matter which way I looked at what happened, I don't know how I left it alive. Why I didn't have a round straight through my head, why he decided to spare my life whatsoever. It wasn't like I was able to do anything to sway his mind, he was completely uninterested in me when I gave my last ditch effort to save my life. But he still put away his gun, covered up any sign that the altercation occurred, and to the best of my knowledge, has told no one whatsoever.

The other thing that had bothered me, was the cloning facility that I saw on the camera. It was unmistakable, the numerous Vipers that were locked behind glass in the blue fluid, all with yellow-amber scales that were lighter than mine, with the telltale diamond patterns weaving down them. Some were different sizes, maybe in different stages of growth, and all were now probably dead. I didn't see the screen past when I attacked Zero, but there's no way X-Com would have left them alive.

But all the facility proved to me, was that I had been lied to my entire life. I had never seen my Matriarch place orders for any of these Vipers before, never seen them act under orders from her, yet she was involved, she was heading the construction of these things, and I'm not even sure she did control them. How much of my species were now actually just clones? Clones in the hands of Advent?

As a Viper, I always considered myself to be loyal to my Matriarch before Advent, that if I was under conflicting orders, it would always be hers that I followed. The same with all of my sisters, my natural sisters, we were loyal to our species ruler before anyone else. But I wasn't sure I could support this. Replacing us with clones, and giving Advent the means of control over our species, is not something I could agree with. Hell, I felt deceived that this was going on in secret, in places I could have been patrolling, all under the authority of my Matriarch, my ruler.

It was another piece to the puzzle of what was actually going on. The more time I spent here, the more I could see the deceptions of Advent, the deceptions of the Elders, the deceptions of my Matriarch. All saying one thing to make it easier for themselves, to have the most control they possibly could. I was a Peacekeeper, my job was to protect the human populace, to guard them, to preserve the peace. But now I saw that it was not the humans I was protecting, but Advent themselves. Just seeing the green containers of the human bodies just added more and more weight, they were clearly still harming the humans, in huge numbers as well. Now that I knew all of this information, I don't think I could ever go back to being a guard, to represent the authority of Advent. Not that I would ever be able to be a guard again anyway, due to being a captive stuck here with the only way out looking to be my death.

My thoughts were interrupted by the door to my room opening, as the two familiar figures of Brick and Zero walked in, briefly stopping to talk with Vandal and the one other soldier. Brick looked over to me briefly, and waved, breaking into her charismatic smile. But Zero made no effort to acknowledge my existence, choosing instead to completely ignore me. From where I was, I could just make out that they were talking about the Black Site mission.

"You all recovered from the mission to the Black Site?" Vandal piped, as the other soldier accompanying Vandal peeled away, leaving the room.

"I mean, physically, yeah, but I think it'll be a while before I forget what was in there," Brick responded solemnly. "There were so many of them" I couldn't tell whether she was talking about the humans or the Vipers, both in large amounts and both locked away in murky containers. Though, I suppose it was more likely for her pain to be for the humans.

"What did the Commander do to all the Vipers that were in the tubes?" Zero interjected with his question, as he stood next to both of them. He was easily the smallest of the three.

"They asked Goblin to kill them. Turned out that Advent had a failsafe on the main controls to the room which meant that they could purge the whole room of Vipers in one go, I presume if something went wrong," Vandal shrugged. "But we broke one open before we purged it, to collect the blue liquid. It was really like jelly, weird stuff"

"Yeah, I heard Dr. Tygan saying that the blue stuff could be used to improve the regenerative properties of our medkits as well. That would be fantastic! It might half the time for any of our injuries to heal completely, or even less than half it" Brick added on excitedly, a childish smile splitting onto her face. So that's what the blue liquid was for, to grow the clones quickly, to speed up the process to make it viable in a shorter time period. I suppose it would have also carried all the nutrients the Vipers would need to live and grow, as well as be oxygenated extensively. It must have been quite expensive to lose. But it looked like Advent already had planned for the worst if they'd already had a system in place to kill them all.

"That sounds awesome" Zero agreed with Brick, his back turned to me. "And what was that vial that you picked up?"

"I don't even know. I think that's what all the humans were being...'condensed' into. I don't even want to imagine what it actually is" Brick responded, as Vandal visibly shuddered.

"Alright. Well, I'll leave you guys to it. I'm off to get some food" Vandal dismissed himself, leaving the others with a wave, before heading out of the door. Brick turned around to me, walking past Zero, who too turned to follow Brick, as she approached.

"Good afternoon, Scales" She greeted, using some sort of nickname to greet me, though it didn't seem to be done out of hostility or to be derogatory to me.

"Hello, Brick" I nodded back to her, still sat underneath the covers of the bed, opposite the TV. She reached into the pocket of the tight fitting denim trousers she wore, pulling out a packet of playing cards, and waved them in the air for me to see.

"Up for a game of cards? We can do Rummy again" She asked, her posture very nonchalant and relaxed. I looked over towards Zero, and caught him rolling his eyes at Brick's suggestion. Maybe it would be best for me not to play cards with Zero, but I suppose he could excuse himself if he didn't want to play. The moment I nodded in response, Brick moved quickly to drag the table closer towards us, Zero helping her bring three chairs over. Seems like he was going to play. I got out of the bed, readjusting the pink shirt I was wearing, and took a seat at the square table. Brick sat down to my right, whilst Zero sat opposite me, opening the pack of cards that Brick had placed on the table and shuffling them.

"Deal me a good hand this time, Zero. You gave me a crap one last time, it's almost like you want me to lose" Brick jested, jabbing her elbow into his side, as he gave her a knowing smirk in return, dealing out the cards quickly and precisely.

We played a few rounds of the first game, that Brick and Zero called Rummy, taking up almost half an hour, with very little going my way. The more I played the game, the more it seemed like a question of luck rather than a game of skill, yet I won no rounds myself. Brick maintained a jovial attitude throughout, making playful jokes at the expense of both me and Zero, particularly because Zero was trying to get a straight of seven in the first round, except Brick was holding onto the final card he needed. Zero seemed to be quite relaxed, leaning back in his chair, so his back wasn't straight and he didn't sit at full height. But I noticed that each time Zero was drawing a card, instead of taking one and drawing it straight into his hand, he placed his hand face down on the table, taking the card, looking at it, and either discarding it or adding it to his cards, but keeping his left hand underneath the table.

"Alright, maybe it's time for a new game. Lemme just go to the toilet real quick" Brick interjected, after Zero narrowly took the final round off of her, as she splayed her cards out on the table for us to see that she was one off ridding her cards. She promptly stood up, heading over towards the bathroom, but I could see Zero start to panic at her leaving him with me. I guess that after I attacked him when he was last 'alone' had made him quite nervous around me, which I could fully understand.

"Brick, are you sure you can just leave me with her alone?" He questioned, his voice seeming to go unnecessarily high compared to his normal voice, but it appeared to be in a light-hearted manner to convey his feelings to Brick.

"Oh, don't be a pussy. I'll be less than a minute" She dismissed, not faltering from her path, leaving me facing Zero alone, as he turned his eyes to stare straight into mine, maintaining the same blasé attitude. But I think I had figured out why he was postured as he was. I sat in silence, watching him stare at me, his eyes unblinking, the air around us begging to be filled with something, anything.

"So...how long have you been holding the gun at me for?" I asked, keeping my voice down, not moving my gaze from his. He shifted slightly in his seat, blowing air momentarily out of his nose in some sort of snicker.

"How observant. Didn't think you saw it. You haven't exactly been giving me any reason to trust you" He commented, sort of condescendingly. I completely understood why he would keep the gun on me, he had made it clear that any step out of line, and he wouldn't hesitate to do what he should have. But it didn't change the fact that he decided to hold the gun at me, even with Brick sat right next to him.

"I didn't see it. I guessed that you had it in your hand. You didn't really conceal it that well, my species is generally quite smart, it would be stupid of me not to realize" I explained, keeping my arms resting on the desk in front of me. The last thing I needed was for him to be on edge because of me. "And I hardly warrant the use of it anyway, especially with Brick around, even if I decided to try anything, I'm not getting anywhere, whether you have a gun or not"

"Alright, Sherlock, good deduction then. I'm not stopping" He snapped back, his voice also reduced in volume. It was clear he didn't want Brick to hear, or the cameras, if they are able to pick up sound.

"Sherlock?" I asked, unsure of the word he had slipped into his sentence.

"Sherlock. You know, Sherlock Holmes?" He asked, continuing once he saw the blank expression on my face in return. "He's a detective in a series of books. Don't think Advent kept any copies, clearly" He scoffed, raising his pistol above the table, and switching it into his right hand. He laid the gun on its side facing me, on the desk. It was far enough away that if I wanted to grab it, I would need to lean over to a large enough extent that he could react easily to me. Especially with his finger on the trigger, I was not planning on trying. Several seconds of silence interrupted our conversation again, before I continued.

"Zero...I'm assuming you haven't told anyone about what happened. I just wanted to say...thanks. I owe you my life. I know that what you've done was well out of your way and that you are risking yourself for me as well. I feel like I need to find a way to make it up to you" I did my best attempt at showing my appreciation for his actions, but it only seemed to earn a frown from him.

"You owe me nothing. Just be happy I'm keeping my mouth sealed for now, though I'm not even sure how much time it's even buying you" He hissed at me, keeping his voice down.

"What do you mean, 'how much time it's buying me'" I quoted. "You think I'm still going to die for my actions?"

"No. I think the Commander will get rid of you now that you are just a drain on our resources. Food, resources, manpower, you're consuming a lot of it. As soon as you stop being useful, I don't know what would keep you here instead of being sold on. And you haven't been that useful recently" He explained, his voice slightly venomous as he did so. I again felt another wave of guilt wash over me, it was not always my intention to hurt him, it was all out of opportunity. I could feel my fangs inadvertently scratching against the inside of my lower lip, before I consciously retracted them.

"Look, I'm really sorry. For attacking you. I wasn't trying to kill you, just knock you out. I only grabbed at the opportunity because it was there, the possibility to escape. And I'm sorry also...for...y'know, offering myself to you. It was stupid of me, to have thought even for a second that it would help me live" I nervously apologized, my eyes unable to decide whether to try and hold his gaze or to look away. But they fixated more on his face as soon as I saw a faint blush start to appear as he sat brooding, formulating his response. Had he actually been thinking about that part? An exceedingly brief wave of what I could only describe as excitement flushed over me at this realization, that what I had done may have actually worked, may have actually been the reason I lived, despite his initial reaction. But very quickly, his features steeled, his lips tightening slightly, though the blush still remained.

"Your apology means nothing to me, Snake. You should just be thankful it's me that you tried it against, anyone else would have shot you dead the moment they escaped," He coldly replied. "And don't talk about you exposing yourself. I'm doing my best not to mention it, and to forget it ever happened. It was a desperate attempt by you and nothing more" He solidified, his hand tightening on the pistol. I was about to try and respond once more, but I could hear the toilet start to flush, signifying that Brick would be coming to us shortly. Zero also seemed to take note, lowering the pistol back underneath that table in his hand, still looking me dead in the eyes.

Brick opened the door to the bathroom, wasting no time to sit herself back down, immediately returning to shuffling the cards, and returning to making conversation, some much-needed distraction to take my mind away from Zero.

"Echo told me earlier today she ran into you at the range yesterday. Are you two okay now? I know the first mission you guys had together didn't really go off perfectly..." Brick started, fumbling some of the cards out of her hand, before Zero offered his hand out to take the cards off of her, shuffling them himself, much cleaner and faster than she was doing. I noticed that he had now put his pistol back in his holster, as he was using his two hands to do so.

"Yeah, I did. She gave me a lot of help, helped me figure out what was wrong with my shooting. I didn't really get the chance to properly thank her" He sighed, riffling through the deck and placing it back on the table in front of Brick, her hand reaching out to take the cards from him. Her hands were actually bigger than Zero's, I hadn't really noticed before, but I guess it wasn't so big a surprise considering she was also taller than him.

"That's good. She's a little cold, to everyone, really, but that's just her. She's awesome underneath her exterior" Brick nodded, starting to deal out the cards in equal amounts to us, giving us 6 cards each, before placing the rest on the table face down, and proceeding to mess up the pile, spreading the cards out along the table in front of us. I saw Zero roll his eyes again, but sat in silence, choosing to hold his tongue instead.

"Alright, we're playing go fish. Zero hates this game," Brick started explaining. "You ask someone for a card that you already have in your hand, if we have it, we give it to you. If we don't, you take a random card from the table. If you make a pair, remove it from your hand" She explained quickly. The rules seemed simple enough, so I didn't think any further explanation was necessary. We played this game for a while longer, before the Brick decided to pack the cards up, as Zero made his way to the other side of the room, proceeding to ignore me again. As Brick was heading back over to speak with Zero, she paused briefly, and turned around, re-brandishing the playing cards, and sat back down at the table with me.

"I should have thought of this earlier. I'll teach you a game you can play on your own, to try and help with the boredom a little bit" She said with a smile, beginning to set the cards into 7 small piles of 1, 2, 3 and so on to 7, the last card on each pile turned face up, and she then put the rest of the deck beside me.

"You heard of solitaire before? Great game for passing time at least" She said, turning around to look at Zero, who was still turned away from us, minding his own business. Brick then started to lean over to me across the table, keeping her eyes on Zero.

"Look...I know Zero isn't too fond of getting cuddly with you," Brick started, scaring me slightly. What did she mean, had Zero actually spoken to her about it? "But I haven't seen you two act like this to each other. I haven't seen either of you speak to the other in the past hour and a half. Zero would kill me if he knew I told you, but he does care about you, y'know, he would just prefer that you wouldn't know that." She murmured, keeping her voice down.

"How do you know?" I asked dryly, doubting her comment.

"I couldn't have got the food on my own, you know. He chipped in a little for you each day, but wouldn't let me tell you. Just thought it would be best for you to know, since he told me you were winding him up the other day. He's done a few things for you, just...don't judge him too quickly, he's definitely a hard book to read. And his book has a few spelling errors in it too" She continued, giving me a slight wink at the end of her sentence. I believe she used a human idiom, one that I had heard before, but didn't know the meaning of too well. Maybe something about it's what's inside that counts? I didn't know. But I was hugely relieved that she wasn't talking about the incident, that I didn't really fully take it what she said, but I caught the part about him giving me the food.

"Wait, what? He told me himself he didn't give me anything"

"Yeah, asked me to do the same. But you had about 2 and a half portions of meat anytime I could bring it in, largely due to him. Don't let him know I told you, obviously, but I just thought you should know, cause he wouldn't ever have told you himself," She sighed, before turning her attention back to the game, turning over the first three cards of the deck. "Plus, he came up with the the idea of teaching you solitaire, to give you something to do" She added. At least if I knew this game, and Brick left her cards here, I could find something to pass the time.

Before we could finish the game, the door opened again, as three men filed in through the door, one of them who I immediately recognized as Bradford. It hadn't quite been long enough for Zero and Brick's shift to be over, so it wasn't a change in troops. Maybe it was an interrogation? At least I was already sitting at the table. My guess was proved wrong as the two soldiers either side of Bradford quickly fetched my clothing pile, and one of them my mattress, hoisting it between them and out of the room, as the three of us sat in silence watching them leave, Bradford still stood by the door, the light filtering into the room from behind him, casting his shadow down towards my chair.

"What's happening, sir?" Zero piped up, leaving the spot he had been standing in since we stopped playing to walk over to Bradford.

"Relocation" He sharply responded, this time walking over towards me.

"We have built you proper accommodation for a prisoner of war. Namely, an actual cell. Shen has been working on it for a while, but it's taken a bit longer to finish it, to make sure you are secure in it" He announced. Fantastic, I get to move from a room with comfy beds, a nice shower, and bathroom, with comfort around me, to a small confined space with probably very little else in it beside the necessities. Is this all because I was acting ungrateful for my accommodation since I was being starved by them, or had this been coming since the beginning? I didn't know, nor did it actually matter, as either way, I've ended up being moved. The two guards from outside entered, guns brandished, flanking me from either side.

I followed the Officer as he turned around, leading the way towards my cell, the two soldiers following my close behind. I glanced back momentarily to catch a glimpse of Zero and Brick following behind the group, puzzled looks on both of their faces. The walk was short, going further along the corridor than the dorm rooms, to a small room, with iron bars worked into the floor and ceiling, forming a cell on the other end of the room. The cell itself was about a quarter of the size of the room that I had been in, the mattress on the floor, with the clothes that I had been changing into placed on what looked to be an even more uncomfortable chair than the one I had just got used to sitting on in the dorm room. There was no TV in the room, but there was a cabinet which held a small number of books, that looked worn and tatty. There was a small section near the back of the cell that granted privacy, complete with a toilet and shoddy looking shower, but it all looked really put together, nothing like the bathroom I had before. This was a straight downgrade to almost everything I had available to me being stuck in the dorms.

Bradford took out some keys from his pocket, opening the door to the cell, also made from iron bars, and turning expectantly towards me. I hesitated to enter, just standing in front of the cell watching them, noting from the serious look on Bradford's face, that this arrangement was indeed happening. I entered through the door of the cell, hearing it rattle as it was closed behind me, as Bradford locked the door, before pocketing the key again. I could see Brick and Zero both exchange glances again towards each other, somehow communicating merely through looks.

"You'll be here with just two guards watching you, with regular meals as previously discussed. I don't plan on questioning you anymore, so if there is a problem please raise it with one of the guards. I've provided a few books from our stores for entertainment..."

"Could you bring the television back in? Or something similar?" I asked him, interrupting his explanation of all they had done to provide for me. He paused, sighing slightly, before conceding.

"I will get someone to bring a television down. Is there anything else you would like?"

"To be placed in the holding room I was in earlier instead of this cell" I responded immediately. I don't think he expected me to even answer his question, let alone appeal to get out of the cell. He seemed to conceal a chuckle slightly, as he raised his eyebrows at my response.

"The dormitory room was unfit to hold a prisoner in for as long as we did, and we have been looking to relocate you for a while. On top of this, we are looking to introduce some new recruits to our ranks, and will need the dorm room to give them somewhere to sleep. So no, you will have to deal with being in the cell" He responded somewhat condescendingly to me, despite trying to appear more professional about it. I let out a dejected sigh as I slumped down onto the mattress, before Bradford turned towards the 4 soldiers waiting for him.

"Alright, Brick, Zero, you can head off now, we'll only be having two guards on the Viper now, she doesn't seem to be a threat, especially whilst she is behind bars. We'll be running an important mission in a couple of days and I'll need you both ready for duty. I expect your shooting to be on point this time as well, Zero. Dismissed" He finalized, heading out of the door of the small room. Brick and Zero still paused, probably just as unsure of what in the Elders names just happened. Brick gave me a slightly mournful look as she glanced back at me, before both left the room as well, leaving me with the two soldiers. Maybe what Zero had said was true. This move seemed to be a way of discarding me, putting me to one side, so they didn't have to bother with me much more. Lowering the troops needed to look after me, and the confirmation of no more interrogations, they didn't need me anymore.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 11:22 EST 4/13/2035, location: New Brazil)

I walked into the armory, happy to see that I had arrived before everyone else had, as all of their equipment was still on their respective stations, The guns, the grenade, the medkits, the armor...wait, not the armor. The armor was missing, there were no Kevlar vests anywhere, on my station, or anybody else's, for the matter. As I walked over to my station, I hear the door behind me opening, Deadbolt walking through, with Vandal behind him, both raising their hand in greeting to me.

"Hey, guys, you on the mission today too?" I asked, already fairly sure of their answer regardless.

"Yeah, but no Brick today. Commander seems to be doing two Snipers, two Rangers, and a Specialist. Goblin should be coming down shortly, we were just with him in the Cafeteria" Vandal responded, as Deadbolt headed straight to his station. He had already decorated his new Sniper rifle, largely a crimson red with seemingly random black streaks along the side of the barrel, it did very little to camouflage his gun, but it looked fairly cool. He was allowed to attach one of the superior scopes to his weapon, which had infra-red as an option on the scope, and also had an expanded clip size, totaling five rounds per magazine, instead of my three.

"Hang on..." Deadbolt chimed in. "There's no armor? I can't see my vest anywhere" He turned around from his station, holding his rifle in one hand as he looked around, leaning back onto the desk slightly.

"I can answer that for you" A voice called from the direction of the door. Central Officer Bradford was stood holding the door open, as Shen came through clasping what looked like a lot of shiny metal to her chest. She dumped them on the desk between us, where there was a little free space. "We've got new armor now, plated armor, dubbed by Dr. Tygan as 'Predator armor'. It may look clunky and heavy, but it is actually just as light as your Kevlar vests, just as flexible, and will give you more protection. We've got the five here that is one for each of you, the rest are being worked on as we speak. I'm hoping this will give us the edge we need over our enemies at the moment" He stated, letting the door close behind him. Before it could fully close, it swung wide open again, almost hitting the Central Officer, as Goblin entered the room, Angel behind him as well.

"Good, you are all here. I shall not waste any time then. Today's objective is a VIP being hunted as we speak by Advent. They are currently holding out the best they can in a building, but I don't plan on letting Advent winning this game of hide and seek. The objective is to get in, secure the VIP and get out, as soon as possible. We'll locate the VIP, set up a defensive kill zone, and counter their attack with the Rangers. Get into your armor quickly, we are leaving in 3 minutes" He briefed, covering all major parts of the operation. It looked like he was expecting us to only get there in the nick of time, but was fairly confident about this.

"I think I found Zero's suit" Goblin crowed, holding up the smallest of all of the plated armor. The silvery armor seemed to be reinforced along the front and shoulder of the suit, creases in between the plates showed outlining the chest area, the stomach, and the shoulder joints, probably providing the flexibility. Attached to the armor, there were two leg greaves that protected the foremost of our thighs, but not much lower. It was still an improvement on the Kevlar. But the suit did look quite small in comparison to his body

"Shut up, Goblin" I dismissed, walking up and snatching the armor away from Goblin, who relented without a fight, a grin plastered to his face. He turned back to the pile, picking up the largest one for himself.

"Just messin' with ya, kid" He explained, examining his suit once over, and heading over to his station. The armor didn't look hard to put on, in fact, it was quite easy. The sides of the chest plate on my right side had clasps that unlocked and locked, separating the back from the chest, allowing it to be easily fitted and adjusted, though the clasping mechanisms pushed into my chest slightly, reinflaming the dull pain that I had never really shaken off over the past few days. But it was comfortable, I could easily move everything around without much hindrance, the plates sliding over one another when they needed to allow for the movement.

"Damn...This is sweet.." I commented, raising my arms to watch the shoulder plates slide over the top of the chest near my collarbone slightly to accommodate for the movement, without realizing I just looked like an idiot flailing my arms around, only brought to my attention by the quizzical look given to me from Vandal. I sheepishly lowered my arms, picking up my guns and holstering them. "Hang on...We have an extra slot?" I questioned, as I picked up my frag grenade to fit into my utility belt, only to find that there were two possible places to put it.

"Yeah...looks like it. But I've only got orders to take one frag grenade" Deadbolt shrugged, finishing checking over his rifle and putting it on his back.

"I've got a medkit and a grenade, this works out quite nicely for me..." Angel chimed in, fitting the medkit onto his side, and powering on his Gremlin drone, which whirred around, floating haphazardly beside him for a moment before gaining balance. One by one, the others also readied up, and we headed into the hangar to the Skyranger, its engines already reverberating through the hangar. We boarded one by one, taking our seats on the ship. I barely had time to put the belt on, before the engine's noise tripled, as the ship took off, down towards New Brazil.

As we approached the drop zone, Bradford's voice crackled over the comms for one final briefing, giving us an update on the situation

"Alright, squad, the VIP is located in the main building of this compound, and has currently locked himself inside a room within this building. Advent isn't going to waste any time trying to find him, so we need to secure the building fast. If we get eyes on first, set up the ambush, and attack before they get the door open, we'll have a huge advantage here, and a higher possibility of getting the target out alive" He explained, perfectly timing the end of his speech to coincide with the hatch of the Skyranger opening, as our team quickly made our way out.

We rappelled down to the ground quickly, our two Rangers landing first, and me last, before the ropes beside us flew away, we were on our own now. We had landed near what looked to be a large road surrounded by a few tall, big buildings, perfect for taking overwatch on for Snipers. The sun glinted off of the large glass windows that spanned each building, reflecting off of the bonnets and windshields of cars parked on the side of the road. The Commander ordered us forward, approaching the first building close to us cautiously, avoiding contact with anything that may be inside.

"Got a visual, 4 civilians, right side. Stay away from the windows" Vandal warned as he approached the building swiftly, keeping low to the ground as he rounded the corner, taking a wide berth from the windows on the ground floor. Following orders, I too headed behind Vandal, following his route, whilst Deadbolt took position at the top of the building, using a drainpipe to climb up to the top. As we passed the first building, Deadbolt called over the comms.

"We have our first set of targets. 2 Mutons, and a Sectoid, center of the road, heading West" He announced. "Won't have a shot on them for long"

"Do not engage, repeat, do not engage. We're finding our man first. Keeping pushing forwards, the rest of you, he should be located in the second building ahead" Bradford responded, Vandal again pushing forward to the second building. The building was quite large, but only looked to have two floors, identifiable by the two staggered rooftops. Outside, plants pots lined the edges, providing a floral style to the structure.

"Got eyes on our guy. Advent are trying to get through that door as we speak" Vandal informed, as he pushed towards the front door of the building, gradually pushing it open so as not to attract any attention.

"Got it. Hold your fire, Zero, move up to the right-hand side roof, the lower one" Bradford ordered. I looked for a drainpipe on the front, but couldn't find any, I'd have to go around the side. Indeed, on the corner, was somewhere I could scale up. I holstered my rifle and scrambled up, and heading for the wall in front of me, which had large, full length windows on, I could see down into the entire building from here, as the building actually only contained one interior floor, with a sort of statue in the middle of it, requiring the higher roof space. Indeed, Advent hadn't yet seen us, the Captain and two Troopers were tapping repeatedly on a magnetic lock, trying to get in.

"Alright, everyone in position? Everyone except Deadbolt and Vandal, on overwatch. Deadbolt, set up a Killzone covering the door, and your left side if possible. Vandal, take the shot at the Captain" The Commander's voice came over the comms, the final decision to what we were supposed to do. I steadied my gun on the barrier in front of me, alleviating some of the pressure from my chest to steady the weapon. All the extensive moving around had left it aching again, a renewed ache, but I could deal with it, it was not bad. I watched as Vandal pushed through the door, the noise he made making the three Peacekeepers turn in his direction, as a chunk of alloy flew from the shotgun, the shrapnel making the Captain sink down to his knees, and fall on the floor. The two troopers fled away from Vandal, as I lined up my shot on the furthest one. I remembered that not only did I have to lead my target, but also wait for the shot as well, as I quickly drew in my breath, holding it for a brief moment as I steadied the scope, and took the shot. The Trooper appeared to trip as the round found his back, his body crashing through the window he was running towards. The second Trooper was felled by a shot from Goblin, who pushed up alongside Vandal afterward.

"We've got the three coming back on us now" Angel called out, half way between me and Deadbolt, between the two buildings. I could make out the three Aliens spotted earlier making their way toward the noise, before three shots rang out in quick succession, each one hitting the head of one of the attackers. They were all dead before they even had time to react to the Sniper above them.

"Damn..."I whispered to myself in awe at Deadbolt, who started reloading his rifle.

"Zero, head up to the higher roof to provide overwatch. Goblin, get the VIP, and everyone else move up to Goblin's position. Extraction is on the rooftop ahead, we've got a run to go" Bradford ordered, as I made my way up a second drainpipe, the climbing pulling at my chest again, but only momentarily. I again took position, looking down over the streets ahead of us. The extraction building already had a blue flare zone marked out on it, it was at a slightly lower elevation to me, so I had full view of it.

"We've got hostiles. 3 Mutons, 2 Vipers, Captain and Stun Lancer" I called out, peering over the edge. I heard silence in the comms for a brief moment, before Bradford responded.

"Alright. We're going to push around the left side, through the Captain and Lancer, and make our way straight to the rooftop. Double time people" His gruff voice reverberated in my ear, as I saw the squad moving up below me. Deadbolt was with them, his weapon now reloaded again, ready to fire. They weren't too far from the extraction building, the others might just be able to leg it past them, with enough distraction, we could easily push the left side.

"Zero, hold position and provide cover fire. Angel will stay back with you, so you can make a final push to extract."

"Yes, sir" I responded sharply back into the comms. I had to be focused, I had to hit my shots now. Goblin took lead, bursting from the building and running into low cover. The Captain and Lancer spotted him, and the Lancer immediately headed for Goblin, whilst the others moved up to his position. I quickly took the shot at the Lancer, leading my shot a little too much, as the ground kicked up at his feet, causing him to stumble slightly, as he neared Goblin. Goblin drew his sword, hacking at the Lancer as he fell towards him, opening a large gash through the armor of his chest, a murky yellow blood spilling out.

 _Come on, Zero._ I reminded myself, encouraging myself to hit these shots. The Captain lined up a shot at the VIP next, and Deadbolt was quick to respond, snapping his rifle up and hitting the Captain, stopping the shot coming in.

"Last push, guys. Get onto the building! Time is running out, we need to be quick" Bradford came over the comms again, as the group made their way to the building. The Mutons had spotted them, the Vipers also alerted to our presence. Deadbolt climbed the pipe first, taking point while the others climbed. The VIP was second, heading straight for the evac zone and getting out, but the others couldn't quite make it to the flare zone, instead taking cover near Deadbolt as the Aliens pushed up. The Vipers rushed straight for the building, their long slender frames seemingly gliding with immense speed across the ground. I leveled my rifle at the first, taking the shot at the winding target, my shot piercing the side of her armor, as she collapsed to the floor wounded. Deadbolt peered out of his cover, taking a pistol shot to finish her off. The second viper found cover from me and shot her tongue out at Goblin. The huge man was pulled down from the building by his neck, landing with a crunch on the floor, before the Viper coiled him up, as the Mutons approached.

"Angel, get a threat assessment on Goblin, Zero, take out that Viper, quickly!"

I didn't need to wait another second, I could just catch a glimpse of her hood peering out from behind the advertisement board she was hiding behind, and I took the shot. I didn't see her body shudder of flinch as my shot connected, but just fall lifelessly to the floor, as Goblin pushed his way out of her coils, making a run for it. Vandal headed towards the evac zone under orders from Bradford, the second to take a rope up to the Skyranger.

"Zero, Angel, you need to move now!" Bradford called. I saw Angel begin sprinting towards the exit, whilst the battle still raged on. The three Mutons pushed up towards Goblin, who took a reaction shot at the first one, the Muton falling before his brethren, whilst they continued aggressing. Deadbolt raised from cover whilst Goblin proceeded to climb the pipe, to take out the second Muton, before the third found cover. I picked up my rifle, jumping down to the ground, pain shooting up through my chest as I landed, despite all my training in practicing these landings. Maybe I would need to see the Doctor. As I approached, I saw the Muton reached behind him, a glowing green beacon appeared in his left hand.

"Grenade!" Goblin called out, also spotting the same thing I did. They were on a roof, if that grenade hit them, there was no way they were going to make it back to extraction, if they survived the initial blast that is. I knew that if I stopped here, that I wasn't going to make it back onto the ship, but I didn't need to think about it, I didn't hesitate. I skidded to a stop, not bothering to hold my breath this time, whipping my scope up to my eye, and taking the shot as the Muton cocked his arm back. My shot found the Mutons arm, causing him to drop the grenade at his feet, moments before a brilliant green explosion engulfed him.

"I'm taking too much fire up here!" The pilot of the Skyranger called down. "Get in now"

"Fuck. Fuck" Bradford repeated in comms, as Deadbolt stared at me, Goblin and Angel pulling themselves up, Deadbolt had one hand on his rope, his eyes pleading with me, trying to tell me something. The rope pulled him upwards, the other free, final rope also disappearing up with him. I should have felt upset or felt some sort of dread, but I just felt proud. I just saved my team, yes at the expense of my own safety, but nonetheless, they were safe because of me.

"Zero, You'll need to go into hiding. Quickly, destroy your weapons, get rid of your armor, and run. We'll find you, we promise" The Commander's reassuring voice broke over the comms. I didn't wait for another order, snapping my rifle across my knee, with a lot of pain, and crushing my pistol on the floor with my foot, throwing my armor off as well. There was no way I was gonna be able to destroy that though. I removed the earpiece from inside my lobe, as I started running in the opposite direction to the battle. But before I could chuck the piece, my vision was suddenly illuminated with a brilliant blue, as pain shot through my body, my muscles spasming, I couldn't control them. I was in so much pain, my muscles felt like they were trying to escape my body, squeezing insanely tight, my vision flickering between blue and black repeatedly, before I finally regained vision. I was on my back, my vision was so blurry, I couldn't see the face in front of me. However, the weapon that it held was unmistakable, an electric arc sword, one of the Lancer's weapons. I watched helplessly as it was again lowered towards me, before the pain cut me off from reality, and my vision and thoughts turned blank.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

(Unit 19201648, 12:03 EST 4/15/2035, location: Unknown)

It's been two days since Zero had been lost on the guerilla mission that X-Com did in New Brazil. Nobody had any idea what had happened to him, whether he was still alive, or if he had somehow made it to a resistance camp, though there wasn't one anywhere near where he was last known to have been, the last location being the mission site. Once he took out his earpiece, there was no way of getting in contact with him, no way of getting a visual on him. I had to admire the bravery with which he put his life on the line in order to save others. I would never be able to do such a thing, I value my own life too much to throw it away, even for someone special or important to me. If there was a choice between my death and the death of my Matriarch, I would let my own mother perish before I would. I suppose foolishness would be another way to describe his actions, rather than bravery. But it did save the team from being lost, so for X-Com, he was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to the cause. I just hoped that it didn't end up with him dead.

Brick seemed a little lost without Zero by her side when she came to guard me. Her chipper mood was mostly absent, and fleeting when it was there. It was obvious that she feared the worst for him, and that it was a constant source of sadness for her. 'Eating away at her from the inside', as some would put it. She looked tired, almost as tired as I felt. But my lack of sleep wasn't because of a missing X-Com member. I was having a small crisis on my beliefs, on where I stood, and what I stood for. It was like my heart is at war with my mind, my thoughts trying to convince me that it was logical what Advent was doing, how they were acting, that certain allowances had to be made. After all, without the measures in place, war could easily break out against the humans again. But with each logical reasoning I had, I felt my chest constrict with the knowledge that it was wrong. That in reality, the humans that made up X-Com were the only thing that allowed the human race to have a future.

And that if I continued believing in what Advent was doing, it wouldn't be long for the same to happen to my species. It wouldn't be a matter of us going extinct, but rather the complete dominion of the Vipers by the Elders and Advent, possibly to the point where each and every one alive would be a product of a cloning facility. A species completely subjugated by another. I didn't want to be part of their plan, now that I knew the bigger picture, that's for certain. It was exactly what it looked like X-Com were fighting.

The TV that I had requested came yesterday, but it was actually put outside of the cell, so that the guards were able to watch it and have control over the channel, much to my disdain and complaints. But I didn't really have much of a say on it, in the end. I much preferred the freedom I had living in the dormitory, to the current conditions I lived in. They held true to their promise of food though, and I had been receiving meat with every meal I had whilst in the cell. I had also spent a lot of my time playing Brick's card game, once I got around the initial frustration of being unable to do anything at certain points of the game, it was a good way to pass time. I had also picked up one of the books that caught my eye, due to the huge coincidence of its name being one that I heard before. The book itself was falling apart, and I had to be delicate with it, but it was a Sherlock Holmes book, in fact, one of the four book that I had spotted of similar name, all sitting on the shelf. Even with his absence, I could feel him laughing at the irony of it. But whilst Brick was with me, I didn't read, it would be rude and uncourteous, when I seemed to have the whole of time to finish the books whenever I wanted.

"Can we have the TV on?" I asked Brick, who was stood just outside the bars of my cell, close enough that I could easily reach her by reaching between the bars.

"Rookie! You ok having some background noise?" Brick asked heartily, seeming to shake the aforementioned soldier from her little daydream, as the rookie snapped back to attention. Even without Brick telling me her title, I could easily tell that she was new. The posture, the way she looked down at the floor most of the time portrayed her nervousness, her inexperience to me. I wasn't sure who she was more scared of, me or Brick, to be honest, with Brick's rank she could easily be seen as intimidating at first. But it was even more apparent with the way she held her rifle. Instead of holding the barrel, her hand lay clutching the ammunition holder, and it took a lot for me not to point this out to her. It wasn't my problem, anyway.

"uh...y-yeah, s-sure" She stammered in response, nodding fervently at Brick, who turned around to the big screen on the wall outside my cell, fiddling with the buttons at the bottom, as the screen came to life. As usual, the channel that was on was just news reports, the plastic-looking humans beaming into the camera. The news was just busy outlining how productive life under Advent was being, how new Gene Therapy Centers were being opened in a bunch of smaller cities along the West Coast, probably in attempt to increase public approval, I couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted at the move, partially because I now knew that the Gene Therapy Centers are not what they really were.

Another story was being told by the smiling reporter, regarding a group of University students, who, working with Advent scientists, had made breakthroughs in the field of gene research, some sort of new endo-nucleo something, I couldn't quite recall the word they used, that allowed for more precise gene modification. I could see why Advent were interested in the project, it was probably well funded as well. But a flash appeared on the screen, bold letters filling the screen, reading 'Breaking news'. I let out a sigh, as the speaker stepped up to the podium, the classic red carpet all around him, as he began his speech.

 _"X-Com has struck again! Despite the best efforts of our Peacekeepers, they were able to ensure the safety of a fugitive, and escape with them. We will continue to resist their terror wherever they strike, we will continue to uphold the values of the new world against their need to tear us apart, to tear us down. But our last loss was not without gain! Thanks to the actions of our Viper race, they have ensured the capture of one of the X-Com soldiers!"_ He threw both of his hands in the air to immense applause, as on the right side of the screen a picture enlarged, showing the face that I had hoped I would not see. I wrapped my hands around the bars holding me away from the TV, the cold of the bars chilling my hands. Zero's face clearly showed on the screen, unscathed, defiant. So they had captured him. And if they mentioned the Vipers, it's another way to push the agenda for our presence in towns. To prove we are competent and friendly, that's the point of the propaganda, right? Why else would they have exaggerated my earlier feats fighting for them? It was to win over the humans, to earn their trust in a race completely different to their own. But if they mentioned the Vipers for the capture of Zero, it may also be because he was now their property. Maybe my Matriarch would have something to do with this.

Brick started to slump against the bars, sinking to the floor with her hands running through the back of her relatively short hair, her shoulders moving up and down in time with the sharper breaths she was taking. The Rookie on the other side of the room walked over, kneeling next to Brick, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" She immediately responded to Brick, losing the stutter she seemed to have achieved earlier. The new rookie had much longer hair than Brick, her bright blonde hair falling past her shoulders, with a very slight curl to them. It was hard not to notice, sometimes it felt like their only defining feature, it was hard to tell them apart otherwise.

"Yeah...just praying for him" She muttered quietly. Praying? To who? My question would remain unanswered for now, I didn't dare ask about it whilst she was recovering from the news. I unfurled my hands from the rail, hurting slightly with how hard I had gripped the bars, unbeknownst to myself until now.

"He's still alive, Brick" I assured her, unaware if she had misinterpreted the news or not. "We can still get him out" I suggested, knowing full well that X-Com would try their best to get Zero out from his jail cell now. Partially because of wanting their soldier back, and probably also to stop him letting them know too much.

"We?" Brick turned around, and questioned me, staring at me with inquisitive eyes. "You're in our jail cell, when you say 'we', do you mean X-Com? Because I think you're mistaken with how much any of us would be able to help him stuck in this ship, let alone in our own jail cell. I know that you're not 'us', Viper, but I really appreciate your thoughts going out to Zero. I just don't know what else I can do except hope for his safe return" She responded, kind of snapping at me, though I put this down to the news, rather than anything else.

My thoughts immediately raced to try and formulate a plan, wracking my brain for something that could help. But judging by the fear on the rookie's face, with me so close to both of them, I decided that retreating away from them was the best course of action, to let the two humans be alone, as it would put the rookie more at ease. I don't think I could be of much assistance to Brick in any case. She was still sitting on the floor, her face in one of her palms, whilst the new girl continued placing her hand on Brick's shoulder, trying to reassure her about Zero. It would be best to leave them alone for now.

At least I knew the fate of Zero, I guess. Captured by Advent, though I'm not actually too sure of the time frame. I wouldn't be able to repay him for him letting me live, and it filled me with sorrow too that his selfless actions resulted in his capture by Advent, though I suppose it was a very likely result. And now that Advent had mentioned the Viper's involvement with his disappearance, I may find myself having another match-up with Bradford. But I was looking forward to it this time. Now was my chance to help Zero, to finally return some of the good he's done for me back to him. If I could share what little information I had on my own Matriarch, I might be able to save him.

* * *

(Zero, 16:00 EST 4/15/2035, location: Prison block 22, near City C111, Western America)

I started awake from my sleep once again, my head inadvertently pulling away from the floor to wake me. I had very little to cushion myself from the metal underneath me, a small blanket they provided, and my own shirt that I used as a pillow, but it left me exceedingly cold, and not able to stay asleep for more than an hour at a time. I couldn't see outside of the cell at all, just through the door in front of me, locked electronically, with no guards outside, only the occasional patrol passing by the front. I wasn't entirely sure, but most of the guards that I had seen were Vipers...or at least the same Viper, which was a possibility, but I thought against it.

I can't believe I managed to let a Stun Lancer sneak up on me. Maybe if I had been quicker. If I had instead chucked my frag grenade on my equipment rather than disassemble each one individually. Not that I would have known what to do if I did manage to escape, I would be found out eventually. But I was here now, the tables reversed on my normal lifestyle, instead being the prisoner, as opposed to looking after one. But the Viper on the Avenger had it cushy in comparison to this. Even the food I was given consisted of just a small amount of bread and water.

"Hey, put your shirt back on. The Matriarch will be coming in shortly, make yourself presentable" A guard hissed through the grating on the door as she passed, peering in to address me. I put my hand to my aching head, and pulled myself up from the ground, fumbling back on the sweat-stained shirt, before slumping back down in the corner, my legs unwilling to support me yet. I faced the door with sullen eyes, as it was opened in front of me. It took me a while to focus directly on the figure that entered, approaching me slowly. The figure stuck out one of its black boots, kicking me sharply underneath the side of my ribs. The force behind it made me start coughing violently, it felt like I was going to start coughing blood, but I recovered regardless, now bent over on my knees on the floor.

"Enough" A female voice called out, the Stun Lancer that stood above me proceeded to move to the side, drawing his blade, but standing away from me. I tried to pinpoint the new voice, facing two new figures in the doorway to my cell, where a Sectoid and Viper stood. The Sectoid looked just like every other one, big, round eyes, with a lack of any sort of lips, it's jaw and teeth revealed for everyone to see, in such a disconcerting manner. The Viper had dark brown colorations, the body armor she wore had gold streaks running alongside it, and it didn't take me long to recall the Viper that was shot at on the Black Site mission. I can't believe that the Matriarch herself was at the prison, while I understood it was because of my presence, I didn't realize it warranted her arrival to talk to me.

"Can you stand?" She asked, her voice soft and almost compassionate. I was thoroughly confused by her attitude, expecting the worst from her. I tried to raise myself from my knees, clutching at my side, where I had been kicked. I could barely make it to my feet, using my other hand to support me on the wall. I saw concern flit across her features as I looked up at her, before she looked behind her, motioning something to someone outside. Within seconds, a chair was brought before her, which she placed near the center of the room, slightly towards me. The Stun Lancer was directly to the side of the chair, but staying far enough away. I hesitated to do anything, but moved to sit on the chair as she nodded towards me.

"I wasn't aware of what conditions you were in here. I'm sorry for what you've had to endure, truly" She said with perfect clarity of her words. There was no faint evidence of elongated 's's, no hesitation at the words, as was common with the Viper aboard the Avenger. She could probably speak English better than I could. "If there is anything else I can do to accommodate you, please, don't be afraid to ask" She said with a smile, which looked so out of place. In my entire time with the Viper on the Avenger, I had never seen her smile properly, not like this. The way the Matriarch held herself, the way she acted, the way she spoke, was so very human, and precise. But at her question, immediately my thoughts raced to my condition, to the constant hunger and the fact I could smell myself, and leaped at her offer.

"Please, I am starving here, and I need a shower, I am starting to smell" I said in relief. The Matriarch nodded, closing the distance between me and her.

"Of course, I will get right to it after this. I take it you know what is coming next?"

"Yeah, the interrogation. Sorry, but I'm not talking" I stated my stance, crossing my arms in defiance. I saw her shoot me a pained look, before she returned to her composure. I was still confused by her friendliness despite the circumstances, but it put my mind at ease.

"Okay. Well, we'll just start with the basics, I guess. What is your name?"

"Zero" I stated back, sticking to my guns. I knew what was gonna happen, she was just going to try to make me start talking. But I knew I couldn't give my real name, I know Advent would be able to find my family doing this.

"Just...Zero? You don't have a normal name?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as if to query it.

"Yes"

"Okay...Zero, where did you live prior to X-Com?"

"I don't know" I lied, deliberately hiding the truth again. It was just another way for them to track who I was.

"And I'm going to guess that if I asked how you found X-Com, I'm not going to get an answer, am I?" She asked, sounding slightly upset, wearing a sorrowful frown on her face. I was amazed at her array of expressions, much cleaner, much more _human_ than I had seen from the Viper at the Avenger.

"You'd be correct" I confirmed, nodding as well in response.

"Okay. How many soldiers are based at X-Com?" She asked, pausing for a short while as if expecting a reply, before she chose another question, maybe trying to make me bite at one.

"Where are the resistance bases located?" She hesitated for a shorter period of time, before continuing. "What are you expected to do when you aren't fighting us? What kind of training do you undergo?" She fired off the questions. She kept going, just repeating questions, giving me a small time frame to take them in and deliberately ignore them, before she just moved on. It wasn't long until I decided I'd had enough.

"Look, I'm not going to answer any of these, you're wasting your time. I'm not talking" I huffed, interrupting her next question, as she took herself aback by surprise at my outburst, slightly, shaking her head as she recovered.

She hesitated, coming closer to me again, about an arm's length away. "Talk? I don't need you to talk" She stated sweetly, but her eyes portrayed her true intentions. I just saw it too late. Before I could react, her tail whipped up from the floor, smashing into my stomach and pushing me out of the chair, slamming me hard into the wall behind me, as the chair toppled to the floor. I called out in pain, my chest injury being inflamed by the hit, before she dropped me to the floor, watching me crumple into a mess, winded from the blow she dealt, gasping for air on the floor.

"I have this Sectoid here to get you to 'talk'. The questions were just to get you to think of what we want to know. I'm just here to make sure the information this Sectoid extracts from your puny brain is exactly what we need. Though I guess I'm also here to make sure you suffer" She grinned, grabbing me by the shirt, pulling me up to my feet forcefully, her tail wrapping around my midsection as she guided me back to the chair, forcing me to sit. The Sectoid had indeed moved closer to me from the door, it's eerie features now on full displayed less than a meter from my face. I struggled in the grip I was held in, as I felt my mind start to be searched, like a large, but precise headache gradually hitting every spot of my head. I stopped struggling once I realized its futility, trying to endure the pain of the 'interrogation'.

After what felt like minutes, the pain immobilizing my thoughts eased, as I opened my eyes to meet the Sectoid's, which looked glossed over, as he moved his attention from me to the Matriarch. A silence broke the room, clearly as the Sectoid began to communicate what he had found to the Matriarch, who was behind me at the moment. She unwrapped her tail from me, forcefully pushing me back into the floor, before slithering past the Sectoid towards the other side of the cell. I slowly pushed myself back up to my knees, trying to gain some stability.

"Good, this information will be invaluable. I would have pushed for the capture of an X-Com soldier much sooner had I known what an edge this could give us" She spoke to herself, before turning back to face me. "And when we defeat your friends, your fellow soldiers, you know that they will have you to thank for their deaths. Every single one" She snarled, turning to leave once more. Before she could exit through the door, however, she hesitated again. For a moment, I thought she was deciding on going for a second round with me, until the Sectoid turned to face her. He must have been communicating with her telepathically again. I saw her slowly face me, baring the angriest pair of red eyes I had ever seen, with a rage I had never seen before, on Human or Viper.

She leaped across the room in a flash, and I felt her hand grip my throat before I could even react. I was lifted sharply from my knees, as I brought my hands to my neck, desperately trying to peel her claws off as they shut off my airway. I thrashed at her with my legs, kicking out to try and hit her, but it was of no use, she held me up in the air with her one arm, far enough away from her body that I couldn't do anything.

"You have one of my daughters prisoner aboard your ship, and you fucking do that to her?!" She screeched at me, pushing me forcefully again into the wall, my chest crying out in pain of the contact, and with my burning lungs. "You humans of X-Com that like to act as if you are the saving graces of humanity, that you are the heroes of the world, that you are more moral than everyone else, and you think it is perfectly acceptable to force yourself on a Viper? To do that to a prisoner!? What is wrong with your fucking underdeveloped mind for you to think that this is okay!" She yelled, looking visibly flustered, both of her fangs completely bared. As she shouted, specks of her saliva flew from her mouth onto my face in her rage, but I couldn't rub it away. "Well!? What do you have to say about that, you bastard!"

I feverishly pointed at my neck, trying to signify I couldn't defend myself while I couldn't speak. I saw her fist scrunch into a ball, and whip up from her side, making a solid connection with my face. The new pain seemed to overtake the pain I had felt in my chest, but I didn't have any time to rest. She grabbed my arm with her other hand, and flung me across the room, causing me to skid across the metal floor into the wall beside the Lancer. I hastily recovered, quickly trying to defend myself.

"I didn't do anything to the Viper! I swear! We've done nothing but look after her!" I panicked, choking on the air rushing back into my lungs, watching her grab the blade from the Stun Lancer beside us, the blade crackling with electricity as she brought it down on me. I only just had enough time to react and put my forearms in the way, feeling the blade cut through my skin, and the huge electric current soar through my muscles, making my muscles spasm momentarily, before I recomposed my self. She threw the blade to the side, and picked me up by my shirt collar in both hands. I could feel my nose bleeding, and see it spatter down onto her fist as she held me, and I could see the blood on my forearms, where the blade had connected.

"I know what I saw! I saw you pointing your gun barrel at her, and her being forced to do those activities! That Sectoid can show me the images he gets from you, he can't make it up!" She hissed

"Wait, let me explain! The Viper attacked me! She saw my partner asleep and tried to kill me! I escaped, which is why I had the gun pointed at her, and threatened to kill her for her actions! She tried to bargain her body for her life. of course, I refused. She's a fucking Alien!" I spoke quickly, my voice rasped, my throat burning as I put it under strain, but I spoke with conviction nonetheless. I saw her falter slightly, her grip releasing enough for my feet to finally find the floor, so I continued.

"After she did that, I left to get healing supplies, to heal the cut on her tail that I did to escape. If I hadn't she'd have been found out and killed as well. I've brought her food for her to eat as well, I've done nothing close to what you've suggested" I spoke more calmly, but just as quickly. I could feel my heart beating painfully in my chest, begging me to keep consciousness.

She paused, slowly turning around to face the Sectoid, seeing his apprehensive expression, more displayed through his body language than through his facial features. It dawned on me what had happened, the Sectoid had shown her images of Unit 19201648 naked at my gun barrel, undressing, and led on to what had happened. The Matriarch must have refused to see further, convinced of my actions. But now I had somehow fought my way out of certain death, the Matriarch knew that to know what had happened, she would have to see the images, which must have pained her to accept. But of course, she wouldn't find the images and know that I wasn't lying.

I watched as the two appeared to have a stare down, I could only just see her expression turn from one of confusion back to one of anger, as she used her tongue to pull the gun from the Lancer's hands, and blasted three shots into the Sectoid in front of her, the Alien screeching in pain as his body collapsed in a puddle of murky-green blood in the corner of my cell. She dropped the gun to her side, shaking her head in her hand. Due to the sound of gunshots, one of the Viper guards had rushed to the cell entrance, looking in to see the dead Sectoid, with the Matriarch standing over him.

"Clean this mess up. I can't believe that this one really tried to pull one over on me like that. And get the human a shower" She addressed the guard. She looked back over her shoulder as she began to leave the cell. "Thank you...for your treatment of my kind, despite the circumstances" She sighed, in an almost apologetic way. I could only sit where I was and stare in confusion at what had just happened.

"Come" The Viper beckoned to me, standing to the side of the door. I used the wall again to find my feet and stumbled out of my cell. The Viper led the way past several more of these cells, some with humans sat in them, which I could just see through the wire mesh grating that was on every door. The cells all looked similar to mine, but the people in them looked malnourished, dirty, and tired. It was awful the conditions we were in here, but I didn't expect anything less from Advent. To get by on the bare minimum expenditure.

Along the corridors the Viper led me down, there was occasionally a console in the middle of the room lit up in an array of red lights and screen, made up of several buttons, that seemed to occur every few sets of cells. But we only saw one other Viper guarding the cells, who we passed without so much as a glance from either of the Vipers to each other or to me. All the corridors were completely black in decor, providing a really sinister feel to the place.

It wasn't long till we reached the showers, though this time also included me hobbling along at a slower speed, trying to keep myself upright. As the door opened, I was met with the bright contrast from the darkness behind me, with bright white tiles lining the floors and walls of the room. There were 5 shower heads at the far end of the room, in an apparent communal area, with a changing bench with fresh towels before the shower area. I headed over to one of the benches, turning around to see the Viper standing in the doorway. It was obvious I wasn't going to get the privacy I wanted. I took off my clothes, setting them on the bench and heading into the shower area, trying to maintain at least some of my modesty from the Viper, before I had a great idea. I shuffled back to the benches, and picked up all of my clothes, bringing them into the showers with me.

I put down the clothes to the side of the shower and stood underneath the shiny metallic shower head. As I turned on the shower, I fully expected to have a shower just as cold as the showers on the Avenger, and was ready to embrace it. But very quickly, to my surprise, the water started to rise in temperature, though this didn't help with how much it hurt. The water rinsed over my fresh wounds, the bruises on my back and chest, the cuts on my forearms, and my raw neck, stinging the wounds to the point where I arched my back under the pain, but I got used to the feeling quickly, enduring it. Between the blood from my nose and the blood still oozing from my arms, it was enough to cause the puddle of water at my feet to turn a dull faint shade of crimson red. I ignored the pain the best I could, savoring the warmth of the shower, a delicacy I hadn't enjoyed in so long.

"Hurry it up" The Viper at the door hissed, breaking me from my daydream as I stood under the water. I nodded and began to wash myself, washing my body as best I could to rid myself of the smell of blood and sweat, going gently over the various wounds that dotted my body. My neck and jaw still ached horrifically from my previous treatment, not helped by me touching either of those areas, it sent a sharp spike of pain into me. I pushed my hands through my hair, getting caught on the few knots that always seem to form, tugging them out quickly, deciding that this was probably as clean as I was going to get at the moment. I stepped out of the shower, taking my shirt out from the clothes pile I had left on the floor. I rinsed each item of clothing under the water, trying my best to get rid of any stain present on them, and then wringing them out, to remove as much water as possible. I grabbed my clothes and headed back towards the bench, putting on my underwear first, trying to reduce my exposure to the Viper watching me, with a vacant expression, and put on the rest of my clothes. They were all quite damp, despite me wringing them after I got the wat, but it was a welcome change to smell fresh again.

As I stumbled back to my cell, the Viper pushed me back into the cell, as I lost my footing, crashing onto the floor once again as the door crashed closed behind me. I turned around, seeing that indeed the body of the Sectoid was gone, though a small amount of his blood still dirtied the corner of the cell. Very quickly, probably due to the warmth of the shower, I began to feel tired, and took off my shirt again to use as a pillow. However, after getting settled down, and starting to drift to sleep, I couldn't help but feel very cold. Like, colder than normal. It dawned on me a little late, but I realized it was because of my wet clothes, which were sapping my own body heat from me. I quickly removed my trousers, my socks from me, leaving me freezing in just my boxers, as I snuggled back underneath the blanket, which was now itself slightly damp due to my clothes, and also rubbed on my many injuries, though it was a mere nuisance at this point. I lay my head on the wet pillow on the floor, eventually finding myself falling into a painful slumber.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 10:11 EST 4/17/2035, location: Unknown)

My time in this new cell had proven to be even more insufferable than my previous holding, which looked glamorous in comparison. Whilst I didn't have quite the same comfort, this was more what I had expected from X-Com in the first place. At least they were still providing me good food, and I did have enough to entertain myself, though I found reading to be more of a chore than a hobby, even with little else to do.

I had learned from Vandal that X-Com had recruited three new members, one of whom I believe I had already seen, addressed by Brick as 'rookie' earlier. The other two hadn't been on guard rotation yet, but they had all yet to see any action in the field. I had seen most of the same soldiers come to guard me that I had noticed from my previous accommodation, all significantly more relaxed with me separated from them by a cage. Not as many guns were being pointed in my direction, save for Goblin, who did his best to taunt me, his gun almost always aimed at me, regardless of what I was doing. Maybe they were just used to seeing me here.

With Angel and Brick being the two guards watching over me at the moment, Angel usually decided to sit down and simply watch the TV, in silence, whilst Brick busied herself by alternating between card games and small talk with me. Both were slightly started as Bradford opened the door to the room, both jumping to their feet and grabbing their guns, as if pretending that they were completely alert the whole time.

"At ease" Bradford dismissed their attention, as he walked past both of them, pulling up a spare chair to the cell I was in. I made my way over to him, keeping enough distance between us that I wouldn't appear as a threat to him, and made myself comfortable, relaxing as my tail held me upright, with little effort. I had been expecting Bradford to come and talk to me sooner. With Zero's absence, and the deliberate mention of Vipers by the news networks, meant that I should have seen more questions come my way, probably much sooner.

"Unit 19201648," He greeted quite professionally, but not coldly. "I know I had already informed you that I wouldn't be conducting any more of these interviews, but unfortunately due to recent events, I've been forced to go back on my word. You see, on a mission that we underwent a few days back..." He started explaining the situation to me. I interrupted him as soon as he started telling me what was happening, so as to shorten the process.

"I already know what has happened, with Zero, Officer," I responded. "It is about time that you had come to talk with me about it, considering my race's inclusion with his disappearance"

"...Yes..." The officer hesitated in response to my interruption and proceeded to what he would be asking me about. "We tried to find what we could for ourselves, but we have no idea where he is, if he is even alive still. We need to know if there is any information you may have that could be useful in finding him. All we know is that apparently the Vipers have been accredited with his capture, and that he was supposedly captured. Would you know where he may be, if he has been kept alive?" Bradford asked, his tone of voice not faltering from his gruff, monotonous standard.

"I may actually be able to help with this" I nodded. "I know of a few locations that he may be being kept in, as I have patrolled several prison locations where the majority of guards have been Vipers, rather than the usual Mutons" I explained, crossing my hands in front of me, so that my hand was grabbing the wrist of my other arm.

"Really? That's fantastic. Any information you can give us would be very much appreciated, I'll be sure to make it worth your while" He breathed out, seemingly relieved at my response. I'm sure he was expecting to have to weasel the answers out of me as he did before. If only he knew why I was deciding to help them now.

"Do you have a map I can show the locations to you on?" I asked, watching as he pulled some sort of datapad from his pocket, holding it in his palm, a small hologram popping up from the screen, showing a mapped area of New North America.

"You can mark any areas on the map by simply touching where they are on the hologram" He quickly explained, sitting back in his chair as he watched me. I had been planning this since Zero had been reported captured, however. His words kept ringing in my head. 'As soon as you stop being useful, I don't know what would keep you here instead of being sold on. And you haven't been that useful recently', and I knew he was right. Just by the way that I was being resigned to this smaller cell, out of the way, the lack of any sort of interrogation, it all pointed towards what he had said. I wanted to make sure that they weren't ever going to have a reason to sell me off to the Black Market. It took a while for me to convince myself that what I had decided was what I actually wanted to do, but it felt right, as if it was a way to make up for what I had done.

"I will show you these locations on one condition" I bargained, watching as the officer grimaced, taking a breath, before responding.

"Alright, what condition are you setting on this?" He asked, his voice full of cynicism. He must have been expecting me to say a condition he knew would be very unfavorable to X-Com. What a surprise he was in for.

"My condition is that I am to be accepted onto X-Com ranks" I responded with a straight face. I could see the looks of shock appear on Brick and Angel's faces as I revealed my intentions.

"Absolutely not" He immediately responded, vehemently, standing up from his chair, grabbing the data pad, and turning around.

"Wait!" Brick called out, lunging after the Officer. "Sir, with all due respect, how dare you refuse this! The Viper is our best chance at rescuing Zero, and I'm not going to stand by whilst you squander it, because of the condition she is giving. This isn't a bad thing, and can actually help us!" She protested.

"Do you actually trust her? Who's to say that she won't run the first chance she gets, or worse, shoots one of us again?" Bradford snapped back, with equal determination in his voice.

"Yes, I trust her. I appreciate that you believe otherwise, but it isn't your call to make." Brick responded, with determination. It felt gratifying to have somebody defend my position, and it certainly looked to cast doubt on Bradford's features. He paused as he considered the statement before him, probably weighing up all of his options, glancing repeatedly from me to Brick, before he gave in.

"Alright. We'll compromise. How about, if you give me the locations Zero could be at, then I will bring you request to the Commander, and I will let the Commander decide whether you shall join us or not" He relented, heading back over to me, datapad in hand. The map flashed up in front of me, as I looked through the blue to stare into his eyes. It wasn't as favorable as I wanted, but it was better than nothing, that's for sure. Even if the chance wasn't high, it was worth the risk at this point.

Truthfully, it was something that had played on my mind fleetingly on the days leading up to my attempted escape from X-Com. They had shown me the actions of Advent, the actions of my Matriarch, and just how unethical they actually were. I wouldn't be able to go back to fighting for Advent that's for sure, especially knowing what they do to the human race. The last thing I want to see is another subjugated race like my own, as the freedom and autonomy of the race is slowly reduced until they fully serve the Elders. X-Com fought against their oppressors, which is more of the way that I viewed Advent at the moment. As oppressors.

I reached up to the hologram with one of my clawed fingers, trying to tap the surface of the hologram in 3 different places, though it felt like nothing, it was really disconcerting. "These are the three most likely places for him to be held. Almost an entire guard consisting of Vipers, that are large enough, so that they have enough security measures, for examples turrets, cameras. These are your three best bets" I summarised, watching the three red dots blip on the map repeatedly, as he withdrew the datapad, a puzzled expression adorning his face.

"Thank you" He muttered, placing the datapad back in his pocket and turning away from my cell, and leaving the room. After he left, I turned to see the two soldiers staring at me in confusion, as Brick slowly made her way over to me.

"I can't believe you actually said that...do you mean that?" Brick immediately asked.

"Yes. I hate sitting in this cell...and to be honest, after seeing the Black Site with my own eyes, there wasn't much choice for me in my head" I said with a hiss, trying to put my own thoughts into words, which I was finding a little difficult. I'd never had to confront my beliefs before, it was always just focusing on a job. I had a sort of freedom that I simply didn't have before, out of my own choice more than anything.

"Wow...well, look, personally, I hope that good will come of this, if you really believe in fighting for X-Com, then I'd be more than happy to have you fight alongside me" She smiled. I gave my best attempt at a smile back, but I couldn't help but notice the hesitant expression that Angel wore. He had been sat at the back, listening to the scene go down, but not offered his opinion at all, but I think I could already tell what it is.

Brick noticed me looking past her, and turned to follow my gaze, to Angel, who straightened up as he realized we were watching him. Brick let her canon rest on the floor upright, holding it steady with one of her free hands as she turned back to face me.

"Look, I know not everyone's gonna be happy with your decision, but you know this already, right? Truth is, we need all the help we can get, especially now. Everyone is going to come round eventually. Just give it some time" She reassured, pinpointing my issue without me even asking. I realized that she had deciphered my concerns purely from my looks, just as she and Zero seemed to communicate in looks alone occasionally, she had just done the same with me. I still had a lot to learn about reading humans, and here I thought I was better at reading emotions and expression than most.

I felt more comfortable at the risk I had taken with Brick's reassurance, now knowing that I wasn't going to just be on my own, placed with enemies all around me. As the day progressed, with new soldiers rotating onto guard duty, it became obvious that rumor had traveled very quickly. The second pair of guards to watch me after Brick and Angel were Samurai and Vandal, and it was obvious from the way they glanced at me that it was something on their minds, maybe it was what their hushed conversations consisted of, but it took them until the end of the shift to talk to me and ask me directly about it.

"So...Viper, Brick told us that you asked the Commander to join X-Com" Vandal stated, approaching my cell, with his gun across his body.

"I asked Central Bradford, but yes" I simply confirmed, setting my book down on my bed, and coming towards him to hold the conversation. He paused, as he tried to figure out how to phrase what he was going to say.

"I don't know what ever came over you to make that decision...but just a warning to ya, if the Commander does decide to grant you a place. Nobody is gonna trust you here, not at first. I'm going to try and keep an open mind about it, but you have got a lot of prejudices to overcome" He said softly. The way he had begun the sentence made it sound as if he was trying to threaten me, but I think he was actually just trying to give advice to me. I could see Samurai biting his tongue behind Vandal, looking down at me with mistrust.

"I know. I'm not exactly sure the best way to overcome it is though" I shrugged at him, sighing after my sentence. "As long as nobody shoots me, I think I'll be fine"

"Don't give them a reason to shoot you then" Samurai broke his silence, maintaining his distance from me. "I'm not gonna fall for your tricks, Viper. One step out of line and I don't think you'll find yourself lasting very long" He muttered. The guy just creeped me out so much, just the way he talked and acted, it sent a chill straight down my spine and through my tail.

"Ignore him. Anyway, we're about to finish. It'll be interesting nonetheless to see how the Commander will deal with your request." Vandal said as he waved goodbye briefly at me, heading towards the door. As he was about to open it, the door swung open, the next two guards strolling into the room. I closed my eyes dejectedly as I saw who had come in. It was Goblin, along with one of the new rookies.

"Hey guys" He warmly greeted Vandal and Samurai, trading a fist bump with Samurai as he walked past. "Has the Viper been behaving?" He said cheerfully. It was kind of weird to imagine him being friendly to others, largely because he always acted so hostile towards me. But he seemed to be getting along fine with the other soldiers, even with the rookie, who he introduced to the others.

"This is one of our newest additions to the team. Says he wants to be a specialist when he gets his first rank. He'd rather spend all day tinkering with one of those gremlins, instead of learning how to fire a gun straight or handle a sword" He teased, earning a brief dejected look from the rookie in a joking response.

"Nice to meet ya, kiddo" Vandal smiled at the rookie. "Hope you do good for X-Com. Anyway, we're heading off. Don't let the rookie fall asleep on duty, Goblin" Vandal laughed, as he left, Samurai in close behind him The moment the door closed, I saw Goblin turn towards me with a sinister glare, pacing up towards the bars. The way I was positioned, I was lower than him, and I thought of raising myself to match his height, however, this may be presumed as a challenge, so I decided against it. His gun was at his hip, pointing in my direction, finger on the trigger. he was one of the few to continue doing this to me, out of all the soldiers I had seen on the ship.

"So, Viper. A little birdie has told me an interesting little fact" He murmured menacingly, approaching the bars closer. "See, this little birdie told me that you've asked to join X-Com. You may have pulled the wool over all of their eyes, but I'm not so much of a sheep as them. What the hell even gives you the right to even ask this?"

"I'm not trying to trick anyone, Goblin. I genuinely want to be part of X-Com. Have you thought about that?" I condescendingly responded, earning a snarl from him in response.

"Don't think that I haven't forgotten about what you've done. I don't know why they kept you alive at all after you killed Alphabet" He taunted. "I would have killed you myself if I had the choice"

"Again, Goblin, I am sorry that it went that way. I had no choice in defending myself there" I relented, trying to avoid the fight that I could sense ensuing. I could see the rookie behind Goblin unsure of how to react to me or his partner. He looked to be just as scared of me as he was terrified of the sudden mood change of his partner, but he stood in silence, watching, regardless

"Save your apologies. I don't want to give you the chance to try and nestle yourself in with X-Com. You are the enemy, now and always" He hissed. The barrel of the gun he had held at me since the start of the conversation only just began to occur that this might be an actual threat to just shoot me now.

"Wait-" I panicked, backing away from the bars as I saw his eyes lock with mine, his barrel following me as I quickly backed off. This wasn't how I wanted to end, being shot at whilst trapped defenseless in a cage. I believe the humans had a great proverb for it. 'Like fish in a barrel', where I was the fish, the barrel being my cell. Oh, how it made so much more sense to me now than when I first came across it. Suddenly, the rookie leaped towards Goblin, giving him no time to react as he tried to whack the gun out of his hands, but Goblin held on, pushing the kid back with his body weight.

"Stay out of it, kid. She's had this coming for a long time" He growled at the rookie, now toppled over on the floor. Before he could get back up, the door to the room swung open again, a voice calling out of it immediately, which I recognized as Bradford's voice.

"Cut it out, now, Goblin" He commanded, his voice spoke with authority. Without question Goblin lowered his rifle, turning around to face the Officer, who quickly closed the distance between them, reaching for the gun out of Goblin's hands. Goblin relented immediately, hanging his head in shame as he did so.

"I'll decide how to discipline you at a later time. Go ask Deadbolt to cover for you, you can consider this your last shift" Bradford ruled immediately, watching as the larger man walked around him, heading out of the door, leaving it wide open. The rookie used the time to get back to his feet, picking up his rifle afterward.

"I'm sorry for his actions, did he hurt you?" Bradford asked the rookie, who responded with a shake of his head. "It's my fault, I'll make sure your partner isn't one with such an issue with our captive in the future. Or, I should say, soon not-to-be captive." He continued, turned back around to face me. "The Commander, despite my best attempts to convince them otherwise, decided that they rather liked your suggestion. Don't think it means you're completely off the hook, you are going to be required to have someone watching you at all times. But you'll officially be a part of the X-Com roster, for now. As soon as Deadbolt gets here I'll show you to your accommodation and where everything is, and I'll assign Brick to watch you. But I mean it, I see or hear a step out of line, and you'll be back in the cell quicker than you can say your own name"

"Thank you, Officer" I sighed with relief. I had been a bit tense with anticipation of the result of my request. While I had held hope for it, I don't think I really expected to happen, but I planned to make every use of this opportunity. "I must ask, have you managed to act on any of the information I supplied?"

Bradford raised his eyebrows briefly, approaching the bars. "Didn't think you had such an interest. We've looked at any reports we could find of prisoner intakes at the three mentioned prison. Only one has anything on record, so we believe that Zero is located there. We want to launch a rescue operation there as soon as possible, who knows what they are doing to him there, if he is still alive of course." He sighed, shaking his head. "But the Commander and I can't make a decision on what to do. I suggested taking a three-man team there, but the Commander wants either more, to try and take the prison entirely, or less, to try and sneak in an out undetected. It's not happening as quickly as I'd like in any case"

"That's a shame, the sooner he is out the better. By the way, have you considered changing our location and sending a message out to any of our camps? They may be able to get information from him there, the last thing you'd want is for Advent to act on this without us being prepared"

Bradford's face lit up in apparent surprise, whispering expletives under his breath momentarily. "You're absolutely right, we've been focusing so much on the task at hand we didn't even consider it. I'll pass it on to the Commander as soon as possible" He nodded, in gratitude.

It wasn't long before Deadbolt strolled through the door, looking very tired, but rifle in hand nonetheless. "What's going on, Goblin woke me up and told me to come down here early?" He yawned, with an even deeper voice than he usually had, maybe due to him being tired.

"Just need an extra guard to help me escort the Viper around the place. The Commander has accepted her on the team" Bradford explained. I could see Deadbolt doing a double take at the sentence, seeming to wake up significantly quicker at the sentence.

"No kidding? Damn, I know there were rumors, but I didn't think it would happen, at least not that fast. I guess, welcome aboard" He shrugged, trying his best attempt at a smile, but I think he was just too tired to manage it well. Bradford shifted around, digging through his pocket with one hand, and pulling out a solitary key on a small keychain. He unlocked the door for me, opening it and extending his arm to show me that I was free to exit.

"Uh...Central Officer, would I be able to keep the books at all?" I asked, glancing back at them, feeling slightly guilty at leaving them alone whilst I left.

"Sure, I don't see any problem with that. You can get them later, after I show you around" He nodded, swiftly turning to move out of the room, leading the way out of my holding cell. I was only in here for a matter of days, it seems a bit pointless to have been put here in hindsight, but I was sure glad I was out of it. As we left, the Rookie and the Sniper took up positions behind me, with Bradford walking in front, leading the way on the short tour. I tried to remember to keep my tail close to me, and not let it trail too much, otherwise, the two people behind me may accidentally step on it.

The tour was relatively quick, Bradford simply passed by rooms, labeling each one as we walked past, only stopping in a few important ones. The cafeteria, practice range, armory, ship hangar, and the Guerrilla tactics school all being some of the ones we stopped in to actually look inside. Everywhere I went, I kept getting odd looks from the soldiers that populated the ship, some of them erring on the side of fear or apprehensiveness, but I think most of the glances were just due to the fact that I was out and about, and not in my cell. I'm sure it would take some getting used to, an Alien having free roam of the ship.

Finally, Bradford wrapped up his tour at one of the bedrooms. As we walked in, I noted that it looked very similar to the previous holding room I was in, with two bunk beds on either side of the room, except with two extra mattresses further along. I also noticed that the room also had two cameras, facing in similar directions, and a TV on the wall just as in the previous room. The only difference I could tell from first glance was that the floor was more of a greyish color than the green of my earlier accommodation.

"Alright, you'll be staying in here for the time being, until we sort something else out for you. It may just be the case that we just let you live here. I'll arrange for Brick to move in here with you as well, but otherwise, this room will only have two other soldiers in it. I'll probably look to fill in two more from elsewhere on the ship, so as to have more people in the room. Forgive me, but I'm not as trusting as the Commander. Don't expect everyone to be happy with this, as well, I'm not in control of their emotions, nor do I blame most of them. The soldiers on this ship join for a multitude of reasons, and I know a few who's reasons would give them a good motive for having a dislike of the Viper race. I suppose with Brick by your side, she'll be protecting you from others as much as she'll be protecting others from you" He said monotonously, issuing out the end of the tour as if they were mission orders. "Alright, Deadbolt, could you go get Brick to take over from you, in that case. I'll wait until you get back, but I need to get back to solving our problem with rescuing Zero."

Deadbolt left us, still moving sluggishly, as he went off in search of Brick. Truthfully, my mind hadn't really been listening to the tour that Bradford was giving me, since I knew Brick could easily just show me around, but instead, I was thinking of Zero. More specifically, I was thinking of what could possibly be the best way to free him from the prison. I think by now, I had already made my mind up though. It was only fair for me to return the favor, right?

"Central Officer..."

"Please, just call me Bradford" He sighed in response, turning back around to face me, with crossed arms, and an impatient look about him.

"Do you still have my armor and weapon in store?" I asked, still trying to formulate my plan.

"Yes, but you needn't worry, Shen will be working on new armor as soon as I give her the word. You can be sure that she'll be excited to be making it" He said with a chuckle.

"What if I went in to rescue Zero? On my own?" I suggested, tilting my head to the side briefly in thought. To me, it made perfect sense. I could easily get in and out without being detected, I would just blend right in. If this prison had similar patrols to that which I had seen at other prisons, then it was just a matter of moving in between guard patrols to not be identified. And, it would give me a chance to fully repay back Zero. I would certainly feel that I owed him nothing more, in any case. I could easily see Bradford's face turn to one of apprehension as he began to argue against the idea.

"Right, so this was part of your master plan all along, escape from X-Com as soon as possible, I get it. Of course I can't allow you to go on the mission, nothing's stopping you from just running then. Nice try though, I'll give you that. But I mean it, last warning, I'm not going to take any shit from you"

"No, no, I mean it! If you don't want to send more people because it's too risky, but you don't want to select less because they may be found, then you have no loss with me. I know these prisons personally, I can find my way in and out of the quickly, they won't even know he's gone" I debated. I could see Bradford weighing up options in his head, trying to go through parameters of the mission, trying to identify all the possible results and outcomes. I think something clicked in his mind, because I saw his face light up briefly.

"You know what...that might actually just work...I'll talk to the Commander about it. Be ready to gear up tomorrow, in that case, I don't want to waste any time on getting one of our own back. Make sure you get some good sleep" He grinned, just as Brick entered through the door, without a weapon on her at all. She looked severely less intimidating without her weapon, but I found it quite entertaining that she looked a little lost without it. Without any further notice, Bradford quickly explained to Brick what was happening, as Brick ended up beaming at me, once Bradford told her that I was now part of X-Com. I had to admire the way they looked after their soldiers though. Not necessarily in terms of living or anything, Advent probably had them trumped there, but the fact that they were willing to send people after Zero, risking more lives just to save one. It sounded impractical, thinking about it logically, but here I was, volunteering to do that very mission, and I couldn't wait.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

(Zero, 10:15 EST 4/17/2035, location: Prison block 22, near City C111, Western America)

I hadn't been faring too well since I had last been visited by the Matriarch, whilst I thought that her generosity shown by her allowing me to clean up would be extended to allowing me some food to eat, I still got a pittance in terms of food, with only bread and water, and not anywhere near enough. So when I wasn't shivering from the cold of the cell, my stomach was reminding me how hungry I was. But at least I didn't smell of blood or sweat too much. My wounds hadn't really continued bleeding long after my shower, with only my shirt being stained by a small amount of blood from my arm after I had gone to sleep following the shower, but they still hurt like hell. My chest was struggling to move without causing a sharp ache to form, resulting in me taking very long, shallow breaths. my other injuries weren't so bad by comparison; my arms just stang and my face was just numb. I kept thinking back to the Viper aboard the avenger. I don't know how she managed to persevere so well. It wasn't the hunger or the cold that really got to me, but the inactivity. My mind did a very poor job at keeping itself occupied, and my thoughts continued to aimlessly wander, just making the time I spent here seem to take forever, though I had been counting the days in my head, so I knew that my version of forever was merely 4 days.

The few thoughts that seemed to reoccur the most was typically thoughts of the mission I got captured on, Brick, or the Viper. Just replaying the final moments of the brilliant green display of light bursting from the grenade, engulfing the Muton before he could recover. I had to give myself some credit, that was probably one of the best shots I had made since joining X-com. I wasn't usually one for letting pride to get to me, but I couldn't help but feel proud of myself. I don't think I even hesitated, I put forward my race's best chance at survival before my own life. It was never a choice I thought I would have to make so directly, nor did I think it was a choice I would decide on so easily. But my decision has now wound me in a prison cell, probably for the rest of my life, or until they decide to execute me, whichever is easier, I suppose.

The thing I had missed most about being aboard the Avenger was the volume of things to do. Failing just talking with crewmates, there was plenty of entertainment in the rec center, or as a last resort, televisions were dotted around the Avenger in several different rooms. I missed the joking around of Brick, I missed Golbin's straightforward attitude and lively conversations. I missed the teasing from my dorm mates, even just seeing Bradford. I missed the familiarity of it all. And it had been 4 days. I was too weak to make it much longer if I was struggling already.

And then finally, the Viper. I don't know why I couldn't always shake her out of my head, it wasn't something I purposely thought of, but it was a train of thought I actively tried to dismiss whenever I felt my thoughts drift in the general direction. The Matriarch had already made me relive the evening she almost killed me, again, I didn't need to think back once more to this, it had already distracted me long enough. However, I'm sure she would have spoken to Brick about me since I had been gone. I wondered if the Viper sort of saw Brick as a bit of a confidant, I could sort of see that happening. I think Brick was the only person she actually trusted to any amount in the base. Maybe I made it onto that list, but only out of my actions after she tried to 'knock me out', according to her.

But it seemed today would be a bit more lively. For a fleeting moment, I saw the window of the door in front of me become occupied with the face of a Viper, peering in to check on me. I already had all my clothes on, and I was just sat near the back of the cell, huddling with the blanket to try and heat myself up, to little avail. If the Vipers had been checking in on me before, I hadn't noticed, but if two days ago was anything to go by, it meant the Matriarch was still at the prison, and she was coming back for me again. My suspicions were proved correct after just 5 minutes, when the door swung open, again the Stun Lancer stood at the door and approached me. I tried to stand up before he got over to me, dropping the blanket and trying to use the wall to help myself, but I just didn't have enough energy to do it in time. The Stun Lancer beat me to the floor with the butt of his gun, hitting me thrice as my arms tried to block the hits. I looked up to see the Matriarch stood at the door, watching. Unlike last time, she didn't call the thing off of me, instead, she let him continue. I felt a boot strike underneath the side of my ribcage twice, the second kick making me fall onto my side, coughing violently, which made my chest seer with pain. But I heard the Stun Lancer back off slightly, giving me space, and most importantly, no longer striking me in any form.

I peered up from the floor at the approaching slender figure, hearing the faint noise of her slithering over to me, as her tail glided over the cold floor. I tried to sit back up to face her, managing it slowly, all the while she had a grin of amusement plastered on her face. She remained silent as she approached me more, looking down at me with an air of dominance.

"4 days seem to have really worn you down here, 'Zero'" She commented, emphasizing my name on purpose. "I've never seen anyone crumble as quickly as you have here, 'Zero'"

"I get it, you know my actual name" I responded weakly, still trying to sound defiant, though I really don't think I pulled it off.

"Hmm, not as thick as you come across, I see," She responded playfully. Her hands both rested behind her back as she held herself upright, with her huge, disturbingly human grin on her face. And I swear her hood was quivering if only very slightly; she seemed to be enjoying this for the time being. "Unfortunately, I wasn't finished with you after the interview, I would much prefer to just leave you rotting here in this cell, but I have another task to perform before I do so"

The way she said it made it sound like a threat, which it probably was, but my curiosity had peaked slightly because of her choice of words. She had already got all the information she wanted from me, so what else did the Viper want to do with me? She just watched me through thin red eyes, waiting, relishing every moment of power she had over me, I'm sure.

"From what our late friend, the Sectoid, told me earlier, you are clued in to some of Advent's proceedings," She began, once again closing the distance between us. I could feel my heart begin to race in my chest, ready for what was coming. "One of which is the gene therapy clinics. You're entirely right, it's just a front for Advent, in order to achieve their goal on this planet quicker. Every human that goes into the clinics is screened, and either given the gene therapy they want, which is about 90% of the clientele, while the rest are taken to one side for a 'trial period'. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what happens to them" She explained, beginning to walk from side to side as she continued. She was vague enough about it, but it matched what I knew about the clinics. That some people ended up just disappearing after undergoing some sort of therapy with the clinics. I didn't know what it was for, however. Maybe I was finally going to get some answers.

"These people have a specific affinity that is coded by their genes, that the Elder's have a particular interest in. Vipers themselves are incapable of having this affinity, but you can see that the Sectoid race has strong telekinetic powers, which is due to the nature of their genetic build up. But it is something in the human race that interests the Elders. I do not know why. But it would be good to see if you fit the criteria, since you haven't taken the time during your life to visit one of our gene therapy clinics."

"You mean you want to take a blood sample?" I questioned, as she stopped her movement to watch over me, stood almost directly at my feet at the moment. "I'm not strong enough to exactly fend you off. You can have it" I relented, scared of any abuse that I was going to endure by resisting. I tried to get to my feet, to stop having to crane my neck to look up at her, using the wall to balance myself as I did so, all to her amusement. She waited until I had got up fully, before her tail swept around her, coiling briefly around one of my legs, and pulling it from underneath me, not particularly quickly, but I wasn't anywhere near fast enough to react. I fell to the floor hard, doing little to cushion my fall. "Stay on the floor. I think it'll be easier for you" She smirked.

"I have worked tirelessly for both my race, and for the Elders themselves. Your capture at the hands of my troops means an awful lot in the long run. The increase in favor from the Elders more than compensates for the damage dealt to the facility under my protection. You've seen the clones, they were all there due to my lobbying for more protection for the Vipers. X-Com destroying the facility just made Advent lose faith in me, they were threatening to shut down the other facilities we have, in case you are able to take something from us, or because their finances would go to waste with it." She said, looking down towards me as she turned to one side, both arms down beside her slender figure.

"You mean you have other facilities for the clones? Why bother with the clones at all?" I asked, trying to delay the inevitable by getting her to talk to me.

"What's better, a dead Viper, or a dead clone? With more clones at my disposal, Vipers no longer get put at such risk, we are able to allow more to pursue other goals. You know, Vipers make great scientists, half of the things Advent has achieved whilst humanity was under their protection, was because of the work between the Human race and Viper kind. Psychologists, Chemists, Engineers. Vipers are able to cover so much, yet their potential is squandered being pathetic guards," She exclaimed proudly, putting forward her reasoning as if it were undisputed logic. "Which is why I find myself so confused at X-Com's actions. Do you realize how much we could do together if there was no fighting? The best minds from the Advent coalition and humanity working together, it would be a sight to behold. There would be no problem left unsolved, no person left ill or deformed, brilliant new ways of traveling, living, would all be possible and achievable. Even with all this potential squandered for your silly war against us, the amount humanity has progressed thanks to the introduction of the Elders to your planet is massive, and you wish to undo all of that. So yes, I petitioned for the clones, it benefits everyone, even the humans you claim to be fighting for"

"Surely having the clones is unethical though? What happens when the clones over-populate, and outnumber the Viper race?" I asked hypothetically, trying to dodge her reasoning of why Vipers shouldn't be guards, trying to sit back up. She seemed to let me do this action, instead crossing one arm across her body, propping up her other arm, as a single claw gently scraped against her lower lip in thinking.

"I'm not here to discuss morality with you, nor do you need to know of what I'm doing" She hissed in response, after the pause, trying to play off as if she had had enough. Though it was obvious that what I said certainly wasn't a new thought to her mind. She waited a few moment, simply peering down upon me with an interested gaze, before she turned away, heading back towards the door of the cell.

"Knock him out. I want him alive" She ordered to the Stun Lancer, who now drew his sword again. He struck me with the blade across my back as I receded away from his approach. I felt it tear my skin, nothing more than a superficial wound in itself, but the electricity from the blade coursed through me, as I lay immobilized on the floor. Due to me being stunned, I couldn't react when I saw his foot swing towards my face, hitting me on the top of the had, near my temple. My head began to ring with a sharp noise, erupting in a throbbing headache, whilst he brought his blade back down to me.

"He doesn't even put up a fight. How pathetic" Her voice pierced the crackling of electricity, as I tried desperately to retain focus. I turned my head to peer up at her, as I continued to feel the electricity burn me, whilst sharp blow was delivered to my torso, as I lay huddled up on the floor. Through her steely gaze, it was faint, but I felt as if there was a hint of pity in there, as I looked up at her with pained eyes. But I couldn't concentrate, her face faded, growing fuzzier by the second, until the pain overwhelmed me, and everything turned to black.

* * *

(Unit 19201648, 18:22 EST 4/17/2035, location: near City C111, Western America)

I had spent the first few hours since officially joining X-Com in the new bedroom I was staying in. The top beds of both bunks already looked made up, belonging to two other soldiers, the two female rookies who had just joined up with us. I hadn't got their names yet, but I think I'd have to at some point. I wasn't even sure if they had 'names' as such yet, considering most of the soldiers, well, all of the ones I had come across all went by their nicknames. I took one of the spare beds at the further end of the room, Brick settling for the bed opposite mine. Some extra bedding was delivered up to the room, whilst I went to collect the books from my cell, placing the ones I was reading underneath my bedframe, next to any spare clothes I had, as there was not really anywhere else to keep them. Brick briefly showed me how to make a bed, as she spent long enough beforehand laughing at me struggling to do anything past putting the sheet on.

But Brick and I were just heading off down to the Cafeteria to eat dinner. I had seen the hall when Bradford showed me around, it wasn't huge, but it was big, for certain, enough to house seating for at least 20 people, on top of the row of trays where the food was being served from. It was possible to spot the kitchen door from behind here, where I assumed everything was cooked. It was empty when I first went there earlier, but Brick said to expect some people here this time. The walk down was quiet, we only passed one other soldier, one I noticed as one of my previous guards, but one who I didn't know the name of. He gave a wide berth to us as we passed, keeping his eyes on me as he passed by Brick.

Upon entering the hall, there were a few soldiers spotted around, none really paying enough attention to spot me as I entered, but when they did notice me, it became obvious that everyone was beginning to look at me, that they were all wary of me. Brick led in front of me, walking towards the trays at the far end of the room, going around the side of the tables to do so. I followed her path, trying to pay no attention to the staring of the soldiers, picking up a plate, just as Brick had. I could smell the wonderful smell of food before I set eyes upon it, I could smell the meat. I just needed to find it. Looking down at the variety of trays, most were covered with vegetables, peas, carrots, peppers, broccoli, there were loads, along with trays filled with potatoes. I suppose they must get most of their produce from the resistance camps, or looted from Advent otherwise. But I spotted the golden tray nearer to the end, where there were small cuts of what looked like beef. Brick took one as she passed along it, lifting a ladle out of a pot next to it, dripping a dark brown sauce over it, and on top of everything else on her plate as well. Naturally, I had left the vegetables and potatoes alone, and instead took portions of the meat to cover for my lack of food.

"You're really gonna eat 5 cuts of beef without any gravy to help it go down?" Brick puzzled, turning back to face me before we left to find some seats.

"I was planning on it, yes" I informed, looking over towards the gravy pot. I'd never had any before, but Brick certainly had a generous helping of it on her food. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try some. I lifted the ladle out of the pot, and drizzled the sauce over the food on my plate in a similar manner that I had seen Brick do, just with a lesser amount of it.

"Do you mind if we sit next to a couple of others? You need to start talking to people now that you're one of us" She asked cheerfully, as she turned around, beginning to head over towards a table where two girls sat, who had both guarded me before. I didn't catch the name of the smaller human, who had darker features, with very distinctive eyes, more squinted, somewhat similar to mine, and a square haircut, which outlined her face. She was one of the more distinctive people on the ship, as it was easier to tell by the color of their skin or hair than it was by anything else. The second, who I knew as Firehawk, who was also distinctive due to blue streaks running through her hair. Both had been mostly quiet when guarding me, the smaller one almost silent, except for a couple of conversations with the other guard on duty, though the conversations were usually quiet, and short. The second woman was a bit louder, and had briefly spoken to me, but not much past introductions and small talk, but she seemed friendly enough.

"Sure..." I said hesitantly, following her to the table. I could see the smaller girl shift in her seat as she spotted us approaching, Brick sitting down on the rectangular table opposite both of them, who were sat together. I didn't see much choice but to take the empty seat next to Brick, the two women on the other side of the table began voicing their concerns as I made a move towards the seat

"The Viper is joining us?" The smaller girl asked curtly, in a sharpish sort of way. It certainly wasn't a friendlier, soft voice, but I couldn't tell whether she was displeased with the decision itself.

"Yes. I have to watch over her until further notice. Since she's now on the team and all, until Bradford gives her the all clear, I'm on detail" She explained, eyeing her food all the way through her sentence, before digging straight in.

"Sorry to hear" The small female snorted, toying the vegetables on her plate around, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Oh, come on," Brick said, with half of her mouth still full, setting aside her fork on the table beside her plate. I couldn't help but recoil at the manners slightly, but it seemed she wanted to interject immediately "You could try being a little nicer, she is right here. Besides, I don't mind it much, I enjoy spending time with the Viper. Better company than some I know" She winked, her voice obviously jesting at the girl in front, earning a very hidden smirk from her, as she still avoided eye contact.

"Brick is right, we should be more welcoming to a new member of the team. You wouldn't treat a rookie like this, would you?" Firehawk chimed in, agreeing with Brick.

"You bet your ass I would" She responded, giving a more noticeable grin towards the other girl.

"Do you know these guys, anyway?" Brick asked me, her mouth now empty. I hadn't touched my food, and I kind of wanted to eat before I spoke, but I don't think that was an option.

"Yeah, they've guarded me a couple of times each" I responded, following up by cutting one of the cuts of beef in half, and quickly started to eat.

"Well, just to get more formal introductions out of the way, this is Firehawk and Echo," She stated, waving her hand towards the two of them.

"Nice to meet you, formally" Firehawk greeted, clearly mocking Brick slightly by accentuating the word formally. She extended her arm out to me, her palm open and to the side. I returned the gesture, wrapping my claws around her hand, in a brief handshake. She didn't grip tightly, but I once again found myself marveling at how smooth and soft a human's skin felt. I extended my hand in turn to the other girl, who I now knew as Echo. She refused to extend her hand, returning to me some sort of glare, as she went back to eating.

"Okay..." I commented, withdrawing my arm sheepishly, scratching the side of my neck as I looked to Brick for help. Brick was shaking her head ever so slightly at Echo, whilst Firehawk grimaced briefly. I returned to eating my food, instead opting to listen to the others whilst just concentrating on eating my food.

"Don't be like that, Echo. A little friendliness goes a long way, you know" Firehawk lectured, as Echo shot her glare at Firehawk.

"Sorry I don't trust an Alien yet. You act as if how I'm acting is unreasonable" She explained, holding her own against Firehawk, as Brick sat back, chuckling to herself slightly. It was an odd group dynamic they had, but they were obviously still friends, and just seemed to understand each other's behavior.

"Aye, that you are. But it doesn't really matter at the moment, regardless of how you feel about it, she's with us, for better or for worse," She eventually replied to Echo, breaking the staredown the two others were having. "You know, all joking aside, her joining X-Com actually gives us a real advantage" She turned towards me before the other two chimed in their response to Brick. "Actually, that's a good point, Viper. You are part of X-Com now, we should really come up with a nickname for you at some point. I'm sure you don't want us to go around calling you Viper all the time"

"I'm not bothered, call me whatever you want. Viper works" I shrugged in response.

"You know, I think Unit 19201648 has a particular ring to it" Firehawk joked, pointing her fork in my direction briefly, leaning onto the table as she did so, earning a small chuckle from both of the others. I had made progress with my food, now on my final piece of meat. I had to give it to Brick, the gravy really did do wonders for the meat, I rather enjoyed the meal, and felt rather full once I had finished. Firehawk and Echo had been sat with empty plates for the past couple of minutes, finishing before me and Brick, who was the last to finish out of the four.

Brick and the others said their farewells before Brick and I headed back to the dorm room. As we headed in, I noticed the girl from earlier, the Rookie who had been guarding me just this morning was now resting on one of the bunks, pen in hand, writing in some sort of book. As she noticed us walk in, she closed her book immediately, looking clearly shocked at my presence in the dorm room. Her wide eyes quickly returned to normal, as she clambered down from the bunk, staring at us cautiously.

"It's ok, Rookie, she won't bite. She's part of X-Com now" Brick reassured, heading over towards her. I kept my distance, staying nearer the front of the room until the girl looked a little more comfortable. "She's staying in this room from now on, we're on the far mattresses"

"Oh..." The girl responded, appearing to be in thought, glancing nervously towards me. "Well...if you trust her...I guess" She reasoned, probably just trying to convince herself more than anything else. I proceeded to head past them, making sure to leave enough space between us, heading over towards my bed. She just watched me as I went past.

"I should probably let the other Rookie know, she might get a bit shocked otherwise" She quickly blurted, rushing past Brick and out of the room. Poor girl, she was clearly not comfortable with me here, I can imagine that must be quite scary for a young, new soldier to have to face, I could kind of sympathize. But as for the moment, the words of warning of Bradford to get a good nights sleep came to mind. If they were to launch an attack, the best time would be at night, so theoretically, it could easily be the following day, in the early hours of the morning, that I could be woken up, and ordered to go into the facility. Just thinking about pulling off a rescue mission made my heart beat slightly faster. It would be a lie to say that I hadn't been giving it a lot of thought, I was looking forward to it, it was exciting.

"I'm gonna head off to sleep then, Brick. I'll see you tomorrow" I called out to Brick, who had headed over towards her own bed, sitting on the edge of it.

"Sure thing. I don't think I'm quite tired enough to head to bed yet...but I can't exactly go anywhere" She sighed briefly. "I'll figure something out. Night" She smiled towards me, one of her warm smiles. I lifted the duvet, sliding underneath the covers and wrapping them around me, as I quickly started to warm up. It took a little while of staring at nothing, letting my thoughts run wild with imaginations of the mission, but I eventually fell into a slumber.

I woke up later to the sound of a loud knocking at the door to the dorm room. I slowly stretched out my tail, unfurling it from the duvet keeping it covered and warm, as I stretched out my arms above my head, the blissful tingling shooting down my limbs, as I slowly let myself release from my stretch. I clambered out from the duvet, quickly changing my shirt for a fresh one, whilst the other three in the room were not quite awake yet. A second, louder knocking came at the door, stirring the soldiers occupying the two bunk beds as I walked past to open the door, to find Bradford standing the other side, as expected, looking no less awake than usual.

"Good, you're up," He commented, standing out of the doorway, his hand in front of him to signal for me to come out. As I came out, he began walking down the corridors, at a brisk pace. I tried to keep pace with him, as he continued to talk to me. "I've spoken with the Commander about your suggestion. They were definitely a lot happier going through with your plan than they were about our other options. We've got your armor and weapon down in the armory ready for you. The Commander also decided that it was still too risky sending you in alone, though. Two Snipers will be joining you on the mission, taking point outside the facility to provide covering fire if anything goes wrong, or if you need a small distraction" He explained the situation on the mission. After he finished the short brief, he stopped in the middle of the corridor, catching my gaze as I turned to face him.

"I'm not going to sugar coat it, though. It is obvious to the both of us, that this mission is the best time for you to bail and go back to Advent. I personally wanted to use some sort of countermeasure to make sure this couldn't be the case, but the Commander quickly argued against it. It's worth the risk to get Zero back, but I want to make sure, that you aren't going to leave X-Com the moment you get inside the prison" He disclosed, watching me intensely.

"I don't have any plans to do what you're suggesting. I have seen the actions of Advent in my time here, there's no way I'm going back to them. I'm doing this for X-Com, to save Zero. You have my word" I assured, nodding my head at the end of my response, in a very slight bow. I caught a small smile from Bradford, before he returned to walking.

"Good. We all appreciate what you are doing for us, and that you are taking a risk for us so soon" He continued, as we started approaching the armory and hangar. He held the door open for me as I entered the room, thanking him on my way in. In the armory, two people already stood, both holding the long Sniper rifles, and chatting to each other. They turned their attention towards me as I entered. I knew Deadbolt, out of the two, but I didn't know the name of the second female Sniper. She had guarded me maybe once, but I never got her name. She seemed to wear a confident smirk on her face as Bradford and I approached both of them.

"Morning, Soldiers," Bradford greeted, nodding to both of them in turn. "As I explained to you both earlier, this should be a relatively simple mission for the both of you. The two of you will take up positions near the planned extraction zone, and will be checking for the position of Unit 19201648 here, and provide covering fire if necessary." He turned to me, giving me a slightly more detailed breakdown of what I was to do. "Viper, your primary objective is getting Zero out of the prison. You know the layout better than we do, and how you play it is entirely your call. All I can do is wish you the best of luck"

"I won't let you down, sir" I responded confidently, heading towards the benches to look at my armor. I didn't really look forward to wearing it again, it took a bit of getting use to whenever I had to wear it, after not having worn it for a while. My gun lay on the desk next to it, which I picked up and quickly checked for ammunition, any damage, but it still looked it be in useable condition. However, I was going to struggle to put on my armor without causing a little bit of a scene.

"Would you guys...mind looking away whilst I put on my armor?" I asked, watching all three turn to face me as I asked the question. Bradford immediately obliged, turning himself the other way, whilst a very faint blush played upon Deadbolt's face. The female Sniper, however, let out a small chuckle, commenting on my request.

"Shame, I was hoping to get a sneak peek" She laughed with a wink, her confident smirk still on her face, her somewhat short brown hair fell over one of her eyes, the ends of her hair curling upwards, not even reaching her shoulders. The way she spoke was in a much lower timbre to how I had heard the other women speak, it was almost in a flirty manner. I found myself gaping slightly, as I didn't know how to respond to that, since she hadn't started turning around or anything, whilst I held my armor in front of me. Deadbolt elbowed her softly, shaking his head.

"Don't be so rude, Ruby. Come on, let's give her some privacy" He said with a grin, leading her away from me, returning to their previous conversation on their own. I shook myself out of the small distraction, turning around to face the benches, so at least if they did decide to look, all they would see was my back. I felt a lot more conscious of showing myself around the humans, partially due to how big a reaction it elicited before from both Brick and Zero. I had never really had an issue with this sort of thing whilst at Advent. I took off my shirt, laying it on the bench next to my weapons. I unclasped the chest armor, the front and back connected by a hinge on the side. I fitted it over my chest, re-clasping it tight again. The armor was created by Advent as a sort of one size fits all, so it was never really particularly comfortable. I attached the two shoulder greaves onto my main armor, and the gauntlets to my wrists, before moving onto the hood armor. I always found this part the hardest, but I had had 20 years to get used to the awkwardness of putting it on. The armor on my hood had a sort of tail to it, which ran down my back, following my spine a small amount.

Fully kitted up, I grabbed my rifle from the bench and alerted Bradford that I was ready. He called the other two over quickly, giving both of them small white discs, earpieces, similar to the earpiece I had seen on the resistance soldier that I knocked unconscious defending the transmitter. He turned towards me, handing me one as well before he noticed my confused expression.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, furrowing his brow slightly.

"You know we don't have ears, right?" I asked, turning the side of my head to show him the lack of any external ear. I saw him grimace slightly, obviously kicking himself for some sort of oversight.

"Great. So that means not only do we not have any sights on, but you are also in there without any communication from us, so we won't know what is happening to you whatsoever" He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He paused for almost a minute, leaving us all wondering what was going to happen. I fully expected him to just call off the mission, because he didn't trust me enough, but he decided to continue regardless. "No matter, we'll go ahead with the mission. The sooner we get Zero back the better. I wish you all the best of luck. I'll be over comms, keep me updated" He finalized, as we headed as a group into the hangar. The Skyranger was sat with the hatch open, ready to take off. Again, I felt the same sort of nervousness in the form of excitement, as I boarded the ship behind the two Snipers. Now was my chance to show I could do something for X-Com, and to finally repay Zero properly for letting me live.

The ride aboard the Skyranger wasn't a long one, but the new girl that I had met took the opportunity to speak to me during the ride.

"So, it's really true, the prisoner Viper turns coats to fight for the right, to free her little lovebird from prison. How cute" Ruby commented, not long after we had taken off. I could feel myself begin to blush at her comment, but hoped that she couldn't quite see it on me. She still spoke with a relatively low voice, one of her blue eyes still hidden behind her hair.

"I'm doing what I'm doing for X-Com, not for Zero in particular" I defended immediately, trying to dodge her implications. "He's not my 'lovebird' as you put it"

"Relax, I'm just teasing" She winked with a slight giggle again. "You make it too easy. I'm Ruby, nice to meet you" She greeted with a nod, to which I didn't return the gesture. "It must feel odd to be putting on your old armor again, anyway, it's been a while"

I nodded in agreement with her. "Yes, it is not a feeling I have missed. I found it much more comfortable not wearing it"

"Hmm, didn't realize you were one for slithering around with nothing on. I thought I was the only one" She leaned forward as she spoke, resting her head in one of her hands as she did so. I felt myself fluster slightly again, feeling like I had to defend myself again. I really didn't know how to respond correctly to this kind of behavior.

"Ruby, knock it off, you're making her uncomfortable" Deadbolt chipped in halfheartedly, obvious that despite him asking her not to, he was enjoying the conversation.

"I meant wearing the shirts that X-Com provided to me" I clarified afterward, watching her return to her seat properly, smirking at Deadbolt.

"Getting jealous, Deadbolt? Don't worry, she's just a Viper, she's no contest to you" She winked towards him, this time watching him look away with a blush on his face, as she kept her confident grin on her face. I hadn't ever met anybody so flirtatious towards everything, and I didn't really know how to react, but at least Deadbolt didn't have a clue either.

"Get ready to go, we're approaching the drop zone" The pilot called over the ship's comms. I grabbed my rifle from the seat beside me, and headed over towards the hatch. As it opened, I could see the prison below me, lit up with several lights, in the midst of a forest. You could see from here the various parts of the prison, the cell blocks, guard accommodation, command center, it was all as I remembered it. It looked kind of pretty from up here, the isolated buildings illuminated in the middle of a forest was kind of aesthetic, in a certain way. I grabbed one of the ropes, quickly looking back towards the two Snipers, who remained sitting, probably because they were being dropped off elsewhere.

I edged my way down the rope carefully, as my tail didn't really do much to grab it, so I was relying largely on lowering myself by hand. I tried sliding down it a bit further, but the friction from the rope burned my hands a bit too much, so I stopped that quickly. Eventually on the ground, the aircraft flew away, surprisingly quiet, and fairly invisible against the black of the night. I grabbed my rifle, trying to get in the mindset, trying to calm my nerves. If I was made at all by anyone, I was, as humans would put it, fucked. I made my way through the forest, getting closer and closer to the prison as I could. I tried scanning the sky around the prison for the Skyranger again, to see where the Snipers were, but I couldn't see anything of interest.

As I reached the outskirts of the prison, the floor around the perimeter was lit up by the red barriers that outlined the prison. I could just about see through it, but only really if something was moving was it obvious it was there. I could see at the moment a lone Viper, walking around the perimeter. Seeing as she was headed away from me, I decided to make my move now. I headed towards the barriers, taking cover at the side of them, and made my way along the perimeter, trying to keep a low profile as I skirted around the edge of the guard tower, which also had a Viper occupying it.

This was it, no going back, as soon as I crossed that barrier, it was do or die. I took three breaths, trying to slow my heart rate a bit more, remembering I looked just like every other guard here, that I at least had that going for me. I crossed over the barrier, looking left and right to check if I was seen entering by anyone. As far as I was aware, I hadn't been spotted yet, so I took up the act of a patrol, slithering slowly along the perimeter of the prison, weapon crossed across my body. I took the time to try and look for where other guards were. It seems that the central command was located near the center, whilst I wasn't really close to the building, there were three turrets I could just about spot on top of the building.

Vipers were guarding the entrance to the central command, whilst other Vipers were mostly patrolling around on the outside, not really paying attention to me as I went past them. After several minutes of gauging the compound, I decided to try and find the cell block. As I had been walking around, I had spotted two building that looked to contain prisoners, located at either end of the compound, a long building that was relatively near the perimeter, so it would be easy for me to break my routine and go in. It did feel somewhat nice to be wearing the armor again, though, in an odd way. Wearing the armor made me feel stronger, tougher, it gave me a sense of pride that wearing a shirt took away. Whilst at first I didn't really look forward to the slight itching it always provided, I felt much better overall than I did wearing a cotton shirt around all day, even if the shirt left less of me revealed. Despite this, I didn't really feel cold, either. The night was relatively warm, probably thanks to the thick layer of clouds that hid the stars behind them.

I made my way towards the first prison block, the entrance was on the edge of the perimeter, it wasn't even close to where most of the turrets were, a few were on the ground area near the front of the prison as well, but that's all I could spot. I walked through the door, an array of consoles in front of me, before the room thinned into a long corridor ahead of me. I walked up to the consoles, trying to figure out what they did. From what it looked like, all of the doors were electronically controlled, and could be accessed from here, as well as a communications device to relay anything back to central command. I walked around the consoles, leaving their flashing lights behind me as I traversed down the black corridor. Either side of me were thick metal doors, each with a meshed area so that we could look through. I wanted to talk a peek, but I could see a Viper ahead of me heading towards me, and I didn't want to make myself stand out at all. I continued looking straight ahead as I went down the corridor, refusing to make contact with the other Viper as she neared me, as she did the same. As she passed I glanced back, to look at the diamond pattern along her back and tail, the dead giveaway sign that she was indeed a clone. I silently shook my head, now taking the opportunity to peer into one of the cells.

The first cell I looked into was empty, but the second cell along from it housed a human, what looked to be an older man, huddled up at the back of his cell. I could see from here how weak he looked, his frame had withered away, I could make out his ribs on his chest, it was an obvious sign of malnutrition. His greying hair had grown out, falling past his shoulders, and a straggly beard had formed, almost blending into the hair on his chest. I paused for a moment, taken aback by the sight for two reasons. Firstly, the treatment of the humans here was horrifying, when patrolling, I had never once thought to look into one of the cells, it simply didn't interest me. I only hoped that Zero was being treated a little better than this.

But also, I was surprised by the hair on his chest. I was aware that humans often grew hair out on their heads, and chin, but the only other hair I was aware they had was the thin hair that covered their arms, which I assumed was to allow for better sensitivity to touch. I had never seen a human's chest before, I could compare it closely to my own otherwise, broader near the top, with two pectoral muscles, that formed breasts on females. However, one thing that did make me wonder was the presence of nipples on his chest. I knew that I shared this feature in common with them as well, though only upon arousal. Otherwise, they were hidden within small seams that weren't really noticeable. I was thankful that my body didn't decide to reveal them when I had tried to escape from X-Com. That would have made me even more embarrassed on top of the entire situation.

I cringed as I thought back, heading away from the door and back down the corridor, turning around a bend to my left. I started peering into each cell door on my left as I walked past them. If humans had hair that grew on their chest, did their hair also grow elsewhere? The thought perturbed me, I couldn't imagine having hair growing from my body. I continued my round, not spotting anyone that even closely resembled Zero, but they all looked weary, tired, and thin. Along the center of the corridor were often consoles, that I had quick looks at, to figure that they held roughly the same purpose as the one I had seen at the beginning, just only locally controlled a few cells. I checked one out after I had waited for a Viper to walk past me, this one was a natural Viper, thin black stripes winding along her back, but I paid her no heed. On the local consoles, they kept a record of when each door was opened, and who occupied the cell as well. Whilst this would be a more efficient method than searching door to door, I figured that I could be caught easier that way, so I left them alone mostly.

Nearing the end of the corridor, I spotted an open door ahead of me on my right. I looked around for any other guards in this stretch of corridor, seeing only one that had passed behind me, now heading down the corridor I had just came from. I got closer to the door, hearing voices coming from it. I decided to wait outside the door, and listen in on the conversation.

"...You ask a lot of questions for someone who is being held a prisoner. Usually, it would be the other way around, you know" I heard the voice come from the cell. It was unmistakable, I knew this voice so well. My Matriarch was in the with the prisoner herself. Maybe this is Zero. I could feel my heart rate begin to slowly increase again, and I remembered to calm my nerves. I just had to remain calm.

"Just answer me, please. I know you know about them" The weak voice came back. It sounded slightly different to how I remembered it, but it sounded like Zero. Good, at least he was alive.

"I can't promise you anything about them, I've only relayed what information I know about them back to Advent, whatever they decide to do with your family is not up to me" She hissed in response, I could sense the glee behind her calm demeanor.

"You know!" his voice raised, croaking in his weakness. I couldn't even see him, but I could tell what the prison had done to him already. I felt sorry for what he had to endure. "Just leave them alone! They don't know anything about me, I ran away from them!" He yelled. I heard a sharp thud, followed by a gargling noise.

"You do not raise your voice to me, you insolent human. You dare to act this foolishly, you will be punished" She commanded. I heard more dull thuds, and grunts of pain in response to them, my Matriarch hissing loudly at him as the thudding stopped. "Learn your place, 'Matthew'" She said, accentuating his name. A weak groan came out in response, before I heard her start to retreat out of the cell. I stood back from the door as she came out, closing the door behind her, looking directly at me. She was unmistakeably taller than me, with such a distinct color scheme, it was impossible to miss her. She approached me, as I held my ground, bowing my head slightly out of respect to her, before raising it again to look at her.

"You were listening to that, were you?" She asked, crossing her arms over her armor.

"Yes, Mother," I responded, my weapon lowered to point towards the ground, maintaining my professional attitude.

"You should be patrolling and doing your rounds, you know that. Why did you stop to listen?" She jabbed her claw into my armor, pointing at me, just underneath my chest, as she used her height to attempt to show her control over me. I had never met my Matriarch in person before, just over communications. Advent had communication relays at every facility, not that I had seen any Captains use them, but a lot of natural Vipers used them to take orders from the Matriarch, as it used special technology to open up mail belonging to the recipient depending on their eyes, using an eye scanner built into the devices, it was rather clever. But of course, the clones couldn't use it. Maybe this is why Vipers sent by Advent tended to be clones.

"I've only been stopped here a short time. I was interested in what was happening" I told truthfully, keeping my posture.

"So, tell me, Daughter, what did you think? Maybe you'd like to go in and do it yourself?" She asked. I'm sure that she was just trying to bait any answer out of me, that she could then punish me for. But silence would probably be a worse option here.

"I'm happy that the soldier is being punished as he is. It is not my place to deliver this without being ordered to" I answered quickly, but carefully. The way my Matriarch backed away from me slightly, with a smile splitting across her features, told me I had answered well. I was envious, the way she smiled looked very similar to how a human smiled, unlike other Vipers. When I had seen them smile, it was often just their mouth opening slightly, with their tongue flicking out slightly, rather than manipulating the muscles in their face to mimic a human smile, which looked so much more natural. It was something I'd practiced, but had never properly got the hang of.

She proceeded to head off in the opposite direction to where I had come from, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I peered through the metal grating on the door to make sure it was actually Zero, or Matthew, as I now knew his real name. The body of Zero lay unmoving at the back of the cell, save for the movement of his chest breathing in and out. He wore a grey shirt that had been stained by blood, but his face was hidden so I couldn't see it, but I could see the gashes on his arm that covered him. I grimaced, I could only imagine what he's had to go through here, he's obviously been close to tortured by my Matriarch herself, or by others.

I realized that now would be the perfect time to simply just go back to Advent. To put everything I had learned at X-Com behind me, and go on willingly ignorant of the human's plight. It would be so much easier, so much less effort. And it was tempting, it was a routine that I had been in for 20 years, I wouldn't lie that something still made me want to go back, and just live around my kind, live a simpler life. But I'd made a commitment to X-Com here. Alone, that wouldn't mean much, but I owed Zero the favor. It was the least I could do.

I headed towards the console nearby, flicking between the cell numbers until I got to the one that Zero was kept in. I looked at the records of when he had been visited, seeing four times since he had been registered here, twice on the same day three days back, one yesterday, and one just now. I felt awful, this is what my race had been doing? Beating senseless a prisoner of war. The comparison in how we had been treated is so stark in its differences, there was nothing I could say to defend Advent here.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" A voice behind me called. I snapped up from the monitor to face another Viper, another natural one. She was more of a yellow color, than amber, but that wasn't what I was focusing on at the moment. She had her beam rifle pointed up towards me, her tail twitching very slightly as she held me at gunpoint.

"I was just checking the logs. It says that the door to the cell where the soldier is kept was opened just a couple of minutes ago, yet I didn't see the Matriarch in with him recently" I lied, trying to maintain a calm attitude. She pushed me aside to inspect the monitor herself, as I rolled my eyes. She obviously wanted to take control of the situation I had created.

"Huh..." She exclaimed, scrolling through the records on the screen. I felt a plan formulating in my head, this was the moment I needed to make a grab for Zero, but I had to play it carefully.

"Hey, open up the door so I can check he's still in there. I can't see him" I said, making a show of peering in through the window of the door. She sighed, getting up from the monitor, instead coming over to the door window to check herself, just as I expected. I walked back towards her, pretending to go back to the console, but as she passed, I raised my weapon quickly, jabbing it at her head, and then smacking the weapon she held out of her hands before she could fire it. She recoiled under the pain of my attack, raising her hands to block my follow up, trying to tear the gun away from me, hissing in my face. Her tongue shot out, wrapping around one of my arms and pulling it away from my gun. I freed my arm from her tongue, punching her underneath the side of her armor, pushing my body towards her to make her lose balance. I collapsed on top of her, my gun sliding away from us on the floor. I quickly pinned her arms above her head, as she again hissed at me, shooting her tongue around my neck. Her tail tried wrapping around mine, as I felt her try and push me off of her, but I weaved out of her attempted grip. My claws dug into her wrist as I lay on top of her, using my weight to keep her pinned, whilst her tongue continued to try and tighten around my neck, it was a fight I was going to lose unless I did something.

I shot my tongue out at one of her wrists that I was holding, pulling it towards me, as I shifted my weight to try and turn her over onto her front. She thrashed as I tried to reposition her, but I managed it enough, putting the weight of my torso on hers, my chest armor clashing against the armor along her spine as we wrestled on the floor. Both of my arms quickly found their way around her neck, whilst my tail wrapped around hers, subduing her thrashing, as I pulled back with my arms, choking her. Both of her hands, now free flew to her neck, clawing at my arms to get me to release her, but my scales protected me enough.

She quickly changed her defense, and grabbed one of the guns that had fallen to the floor with her tongue, pulling it over to her, picking it up, and quickly trying to angle the barrel towards me. I let go of her neck and made a grab for the gun, both of us grappling over it on the floor. I managed to pry her claw off of the trigger before she could fire, but she managed to throw me off of her, weaseling her way out of my tail's hold on her, so now we were just grappling over the gun again. I let go of the gun, sending her toppling backwards with the force she was pulling with, as I followed up, using the bulk of my tail to smash her in the face, following up by driving my elbow again into her head. The gun fell from her hands as she lay unconscious from the final hit, laying against the wall of the corridor. I got up, panting with the exertion of energy in fighting the Viper. I would have just shot her, but stealth helped me at the moment. I headed back over to the console, and unlocked the door, walking in to find Zero peering out from his huddled mess, probably due to the opening of the door.

"Please, no more..." He begged, not recognizing me, as he shook his head slowly. I ignored him, seeing how weak he was, he wasn't going to be able to do anything to help me escape from the prison, not even hold a gun. I hoisted him over my shoulder, making my way out to pick up my gun again. Now I just had to escape from here without being spotted. I shook my head, knowing it was impossible to get out without being detected, it was a matter of when they realized he was gone, and how many Vipers were actually on site. I made my way quickly down the corridor, leaving the Viper unconscious in the hallway, one hand steadying Zero over my shoulder, the other holding my weapon. As we moved, Zero kept groaning in pain, especially if I wasn't making an effort to try and keep my body stable, to reduce the amount I was bumping him.

As I turned the corner of the corridor, I spotted a second Viper, facing the other way to me. It was a clone, upon closer inspection, as I approached from behind. I lined up my shot with the beam rifle, using both of my hands to steady a shot on the Viper, the weapon wound up briefly, and fired the single pulse, a plasma projectile striking the head of the Viper from behind, piercing through the hood armor as the Viper fell to the floor. There was no going back now, not at all.

Within seconds, alarms started blaring, red lights flashing through the corridors and illuminating the black walls with their light. I re-steadied Zero and continued along the cell block, rifle at the ready. As I turned into the last corridor, I saw two Mutons coming towards me, running towards Zero's cell. I quickly turned the other way as they spotted me. I wasn't sure if they knew I had Zero, or whether it was a Viper they were looking for, but I couldn't take any chances. The Mutons rounded the corner, and a whizz of plasma went past my head as I ducked out of the way confirmed that my wariness was with good reason. I spat a cloud of poison where both were standing, hacking coughs confirming that they were suffering the effects of the toxic gas. I fired my weapon into the cloud repeatedly, hearing a couple of roars of pain. I was about to head into the cloud to try and finish them off myself, but I remember that I had a human on my shoulder, and couldn't risk that. One of the Mutons charged forwards out from the cloud, firing his gun repeatedly. His shots were nowhere near me, and I downed him with a shot to the head.

As the cloud cleared, I saw the other muton already dead, my random firing into the cloud must have found its mark, somehow. I began to give thanks to the Elders for my luck, except I realized the hypocrisy of thanking them. I pressed through the corridor, nearing the exit of the cell block. There were no longer cells either side of me, but there was a group of Vipers blocking the exit. I ducked behind one of the consoles, as plasma fire came towards my direction, sparks flying out from the console as it was hit. I was stuck here, I couldn't very well poke my head up from the console, I would die the moment I did. I sighed in acceptance that I had fucked up, I spent too long trying to disarm and knock out the Viper. I should have just shot her, but I may not have had so much time.

"Come on...think..." I encouraged myself, as the fire stopped, seeing as I was still in my cover. I poked my gun over the console, firing in their direction a couple of times, a couple of hisses sounding in response, but I don't think I quite hit any of them. I had a plan, a plan to get out of there alive, and I just hope that the Snipers were in the correct position to help me. I leaned around the side of the cover, as expected, the Vipers were trying to get closer to me, by coming around the flanks. I shot the first one I saw through the head, as she fell down to the ground dead. More fire erupted as I had peeked, and I settled back behind cover. I aimed my mouth towards the ceiling, and spat three clouds of poison, essentially providing a visual barrier, and then I used my tongue to drag the Muton back over to me. With a little bit of time before they decided to push me again, I grabbed the grenade from his belt, and threw it towards the wall. A bright green explosion shredded the metal wall, leaving a gaping opening to the night outside. I started to dash for the wall, when I saw another group of Vipers appear from where I had just run from, I was now sandwiched. I would have continued to go through the gap quickly, except I saw the Matriarch in the new group of assailants, her claw extended towards me, causing me to hesitate briefly.

"Get her! Kill her before she escapes!" She bellowed in rage, as a volley of plasma fired in my direction. I felt one of the bolts skim off of my armor, and another pierce my tail, a burning sensation overwhelming me and making me hiss in pain. I dropped my gun, grabbing Zero in my hands, as I leaped for the gap, extending my body and winding around, I would be very difficult to hit. As I escaped through the wall, I saw a glint off in the trees ahead of me. I puzzled over it for a brief second, before making my way to the barriers marking the perimeter, leaping through the red screen that it projected. The first group of Vipers came out from the wall, weapons raised, as I cowered behind the low cover. I heard two loud booms echo out from where I had seen the glint, and peering back over the barrier, I saw two of the Vipers dead, as more continued to filter out. More shots rang out, more bodies of the Vipers falling as they tried to make it to the barrier. A bright blue flare fired above me, splitting into 9 parts, illuminating the sky. I knew where I had to go.

I grabbed Zero again, briefly peaking over the barrier to spit more poison, to try and obscure me as I fled. Shots came through the poison cloud, as I darted for the tree line, running behind whatever cover I could find, plasma kicking up the ground around me as I made my way forward, whizzing behind my head as I ducked behind a rock. More shots rang out from where the two Snipers were perched, I could only assume finding their marks, as the weapons fire began to thin. I looked back towards the site, seeing the Matriarch stood out in the open hissing at my fleeing figure. I saw a glint from the corner of my eye as one of the alloys from the Snipers found its way to her, seeing it pierce her chest armor, a direct hit. She stumbled back, grasping onto the wall behind her, before she retreated somewhat slowly back through the hole. Another shot fired, clipping the metal of the wall as she escaped, her fate unknown.

I hoped she was still alive. She took a heavy shot, but she was still standing. She may be a cruel creature, but she was my Mother, my species ruler. I hated her for what she had done, but I didn't want to see her die...not yet. I turned back, running towards the flares, seeing the two Snipers come into view, already standing within a marked out zone. As I approached, I saw the Skyranger appear in the sky, from behind the tree line, as several ropes dropped down.

"Have you got him?" Deadbolt asked as I approached. As a response, I handed him Zero's body, who was still curling up slightly, groaning in pain. It was much more obvious how bad his injuries were in the light of the flares, now that I got a proper look at him. His face was so bruised, the two cuts that I had spotted on his arms looked so much worse in the light, his back too was slashed with a similar cut, and a bright red ring was around his neck, he had been strangled badly. "Package secure, Central. Evac-ing now" He spoke, his hand to his ear.

"What the hell did they do to him?" Ruby asked, finally completely serious about the situation. "Come on, let's go" She muttered, holstering her weapon on her back as she grabbed a rope. Deadbolt, holding Zero, too grabbed a rope, as I watched him sail up in the sky. I followed suit, grabbing onto the last remaining rope, feeling myself be pulled up into the ship. As soon as I was up, the hatch closed behind me, I tore the armor from my body, the shoulder greaves, the gauntlets, and my hood armor, throwing them onto the floor of the Skyranger, so I wore nothing but my chest armor, crashing onto one of the seats, putting my head in my hands, as all the adrenaline coursing through my system started to die down. I felt like I was on such a rush, but I could feel my tail beginning to burn more and more. I coiled my tail up towards me to inspect the damage. The injury could have been worse, but it looked to have penetrated the tail, burning the area around it, with my blood now oozing out onto the burned scales.

"Viper...you just pulled off the most awesome thing I have ever seen anyone do, in my entire life," Deadbolt started, turning away from Zero, who they had propped up into one of the seats. He had his eyes closed, with his arms wrapped around his torso, his face showed pain on it, but he was silent otherwise. "What happened?" he asked, Ruby directing her attention towards me as well. I went over what happened, missing out only minor details that didn't matter, such as how long my fight with the Viper took, or anything that happened after I escaped from the actual cell block, since they saw it all. All the while I spoke, both seemed to be hanging on every word I said, in awe of my story.

"Damn...I don't know anyone else who would have been able to pull that off. Seriously, we all can't thank you enough for getting Zero back to us. Who knows how much longer he would have lasted in there, look at him" Ruby commented afterward, leaning forward with both of her elbows resting on her knees.

"You've more than earned your place in X-Com, Viper." Deadbolt congratulated. I felt kind of warm having all the attention on me, and it was helping me relax a little from the adrenaline high I was just on.

Arriving back at the base, as I stepped down from the ship, I saw two people waiting at the hangar for us, alongside the nurse from the infirmary with a stretcher. Brick and Bradford stood side by side at the bottom, Brick wearing a belated expression, mixed with concern, whilst Bradford was as straight-faced as ever. He was the first to approach us as we left the ship, Deadbolt carrying Zero in his arms.

"A job well done, the three of you. This was a seriously risky mission, that I cannot thank enough for having taken up, Viper, and the fact that you got Zero out alive, is just amazing. I'll be promoting you immediately to lieutenant, for your bravery in the field, and your ability demonstrated. The entirety of X-Com owes you a lot, for what you have done for us despite the circumstances. I want a full debrief from the three of you, in the command center."

"It's the least I could have done" I responded humbly, earning a respectful nod from Bradford as he turned away. As soon as he left, I saw Brick dashing towards me, arms outstretched as she did so. I backed away slightly, but I couldn't really react in time, as she wrapped her arms around my back, her head resting into my shoulder, as she squeezed tight. I didn't know how to react, and simply let her hold me, as she started murmuring into my shoulder.

"Scales, you do not know how much it means to me for you to have brought Zero back. I could hug you a thousand times for it" She burst, pulling out of the hug. I could see her eyes were moist, her cheeks also damp from the tears that had gone down her face, yet she wore a heartfelt smile, with happiness in her eyes.

"Let's keep it to one hug, please" I suggested, making her chuckle slightly at me in response.

"I can't believe you pulled it off. You're insane, really" She grinned. I believe when she said I was insane, it was a figure of speech, but I wasn't too sure, as she could have been referring to the fact that I must have been crazy to do what I had done, but it sounded like a compliment, so I took it as one. Deadbolt lay Zero down on the bench with the nurse, as Brick made her way over to his side. I joined her, watching her study him as he was laid out flat.

"I can't believe what these monsters did to him. Who would do such a thing?" She asked, I believe rhetorically, but I answered her question anyway.

"My Matriarch. She was there, at the prison" I admitted, avoiding her gaze as she looked back up to me. It was painful to admit that the person she was condemning was one that I valued.

"What happened to her?"

"She was shot. I'm not sure if she survived" I responded truthfully, watching her turn back to face Zero, shaking her head.

"He'll be okay. He'll just need a bit of time to recover. Thanks to the gel that we got from the cloning facility, Tygan was able to improve the quality of our medkit. It rapidly simulates muscle and tissue growth, so it should do well with Zero. You need to go get yourself checked out soon as well," She mentioned, pointing down towards my tail. I glanced down myself, even though I already knew what it looked like. "Well, I need to be off. You need to go see Bradford anyway. And change out of your armor, unless you want to get shot" She said with a final smile, wiping the tears from her face quickly, before heading out of the hangar, following Zero as the nurse took him.

She was right, I needed to get out of my armor quickly, though it was refreshing to wear armor again, I wanted out of it immediately, for more reasons than I don't want to be shot by my squadmates. I headed back to the now empty armory, placing my weapon down on the bench, and removing my armor. As I grabbed for my shirt to put it on, I heard the door open, and the sound of a voice behind me.

"Heh, so I do get to see the goods after all" The familiar, low female voice broke the silence. I hurriedly put on my shirt before I turned around to face her, she was removing her armor, having placed her rifle on her desk.

"Most people would choose to look away and not make a comment about it" I shot back, watching as the confident smirk returned to her features. She headed over towards me, head cocked to one side.

"Most people aren't me. It was good to meet you today, properly. It's a lot more reassuring seeing you fight for us, rather than being locked up in some cell on the ship. Just wanted to say...A lot of people can be stuck in their ways, and they'll still not be a fan of you because you're an Alien. I mean, X-Com is almost an anti-alien organization, you shouldn't be that surprised. But I've got your back, should something happen" She assured.

"Uh...thanks, I guess?" I responded, still confused about her attitude. She gave me one last glance, before she turned, and walked out of the armory, leaving me standing in the middle of it, still thoroughly perplexed. I shook it off, and headed out of the armory, heading towards the command center to debrief Bradford.

I can't believe I actually pulled off what I did myself, truthfully. I don't think Zero was even aware of what was happening either. He will be so impressed when he finds out that I was the one who saved him, the one who got him out of prison. All the while I thought about how he would react, I felt quite giddy, pleased with myself for pulling off what would other people would happily shy away from. I felt like I was finally fighting for the right side, and what I saw today only confirmed these feelings.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

(Lieutenant Unit 19201648, 4:22 EST 4/18/2035, location: Unknown)

Zero had been unconscious for the first few hours of his arrival to the infirmary yesterday, but at least now he was alive and kicking. After yesterday's mission, I needed a few minutes to just sit down and relax, just breathe for a bit, to recover from the adrenaline and tenseness that had consumed me. Due to the tail injury, I had found it more difficult than anticipated to get around, and had to do it slightly slower, which made the journey to the infirmary a bit longer than usual. The Doctor there, who spoke in some sort of accent, it was hard to understand her, simply asked me to lie on one of the beds and wait whilst she attended to Zero on the bed opposite me. They had placed him next to a second human, who seemed a bit more lively, obviously segregating me from the others as much as possible. But he definitely needed the attention first, remembering to his injuries, it was horrific what he had had to endure over just the past four days. My mind raced to the resistance soldier that I had captured at the transmitter, before X-Com had attacked it. I couldn't even remember his name, but he was at a prison. If he was still alive, of course.

The second Doctor, the man, had given me a few 'painkillers', as he called them, but didn't look much at the wound on my tail, and instead headed over to help the female Doctor, addressing Zero first. At least my injury had only hurt for a little bit, probably due to whatever he made me swallow. Zero's injuries must have been really critical for that much attention, maybe, or possibly they were just being thorough. With the amount of wounds I had seen on him, he wouldn't be fit for duty for ages. Unless Dr. Tygan's breakthrough on the medkits was really that good. After Zero sputtered awake, they kept asking him cognitive questions, making sure he was okay, not in too much pain, before heading over to me.

The female Doctor lead the way towards me, taking off gloves stained red with Zero's blood from her hands, and placing them in a bin, and pulling a new pair from the pocket of her lab coat, quickly snapping them on, and adjusting her glasses, before turning towards me.

"Ah, the Viper. You come to bless my infirmary once again" She spoke quickly, her accent making me struggle to decipher the words instantly, it took a while to piece the sentence back together. I think she took my puzzled look the wrong way, however, and continued to speak.

"Don't you remember? I mean, you were unconscious the entire time, I guess. I operated on you when they brought you back injured the first time. I still have Dr. Tygan's notes on your biology to help me. Though, you were still by far my most difficult procedure yet" She spoke with enthusiasm about the subject, as if it wasn't a burden, but an achievement that she was able to operate on me.

"I must thank you, then, Doctor" I responded politely, as she held up her hand and shook her head in response, stopping me from continuing. She asked the male doctor quickly to fetch her the notes, as he headed off into the room on the far side of the infirmary, as she started to inspect my wound. Maybe he wasn't actually a doctor, but just someone who helped her out instead. The bed was definitely not my size, and I had had to curl up slightly to allow her access to my tail. The shot had completely pierced it, plasma had burned the scales around the wound as well. I think without the painkillers, I would definitely be feeling it a bit more. She continued to look at the wound, poking and prodding the area around it, asking where it hurt.

"I won't know for certain how our medkits will affect the rate of regeneration of the injury, but this shouldn't require too much attention. I won't require you to stay, but you'll need to come in for the next few days for me to assess when you are fit for duty again" She concluded finally, after consulting her notes briefly, taking out a blue gel from the cupboard that lay near the front of the room. It looked similar to the thing that Zero had applied to me when he cut my tail previously, though that was a much lesser injury. If that injury stung enough upon the application of the gel, I could only imagine how much this would.

"Okay...bite your tongue a second, there's no easy way of doing this. I'll just try and be as quick as possible" She warned, pulling out a utensil to put the gel on. She gently lowered it into the small opening, as I felt the gel make contact with the injury, a sudden burning sensation overcame my tail, much worse than I had remembered whatsoever. My tail jolted towards me in reaction, as my entire tail tensed under the pain, only causing the utensil to brush my wound again, causing more pain to shoot through me.

"Mon dieu, hold still!" The Doctor exclaimed, reapplying gel to the tool, as she grabbed my tail above the wound to hold it still. Now that I knew what pain I could feel, I could control my reaction a bit more, and the sensation of the gel on my wound wasn't as startling as it was the first time, so I managed to hold still throughout the rest of the procedure, obviously to the doctor's delight.

"There...much better, yes?" She sighed, beginning to wrap bandages tightly around my now gelled up wound. "Once again proving vipers are the most difficult of patients. Joking aside, it's good seeing you here on better terms with X-Com. I would never have thought this to be the outcome of you being here. Au revoir, Serpent" She said with a smile, before leaving me alone. I still couldn't tell some of the words she was saying, either because of her accent or possibly because they simply were not English, but she seemed nice enough. I got up gingerly from the bed, still feeling the tingling of the gel, as I made my way over to Zero's bed. He had closed his eyes, but I don't think it had really been long enough for anyone to go to sleep.

"Zero?" I said as I nudged his shoulder with my hand, watching him startle awake, his eyes flicking up to face mine. He immediately jumped back in the bed, recoiling from me, his whole body twitched in his reaction. He quickly gained composure of himself, settling himself down in his bed, looking away from me bashfully.

"Sorry...just not used to vipers quite yet...I guess" He apologized quickly, pulling the covers from the bed back onto him. I could see now that all of the open cuts had been bandaged, except I saw no bandaging around his torso, so his back cut wasn't covered by bandages at least. "Wait, why are you here? You're supposed to be in your cell" He asked, panic clear in his voice.

"I joined X-Com. I probably have you to thank for that, I guess. It wouldn't really be fitting to lock me in a cage if I fight for you guys, would it?" I teased, happy to see a slight smile come to his bruised face. "I was the one the broke you out of the prison. So, I guess I just wanted to make sure you were okay?"

I can't believe you decided to join us...let alone Bradford allowed you to join, but it's wonderful news." he grinned, readjusting his position on the bed to face me a little bit more. "So you were the one who freed me?" He asked, incredulous. "On your own? I don't remember any of this, sorry..."

"No, I had two Snipers waiting outside for me. What exactly do you remember from being there?"

"I remember I was there for four days...I think. The Matriarch came to interrogate me herself. She weakened me physically, before they let a Sectoid rifle through my brain. I probably gave up so many secrets of X-Com," He said with a sigh, but continuing regardless. "They fed me nothing but a bit of bread and water. I remember seeing the Matriarch on the last day...and another Viper coming into the cell. Last thing I know I just had a lot of pain in my chest from being carried on someone's shoulder"

"That would have been my shoulder. But you also have Deadbolt and Ruby to thank. Sorry I didn't realize your chest hurt so badly. I tried to adjust..."

"It's okay, it was actually hurting because of the..." He paused, painfully looking at me before looking away again. It took me a moment before I registered that the cause of his pain wasn't necessarily the prison treatment, but actually because of me. Because I was getting antsy in my own 'prison'. If you could compare the two. I couldn't think of anything to reply with, as soon as I was aware, I was just left empty-mouthed, staring at him as the conversation died.

"Zero...I..." I started, unsure of what to say in response. "I'm sorry. I really am. I don't..."

"It's fine" he interrupted, causing me to stop halfway through my sentence as he let the silence fill between us. I could feel my fangs scratching at my lower lip again, and my hand held my arm as I looked away in shame. I could feel my face heating up more, I'm sure this time that it was noticeable. "You've nothing to apologize for. Really, I owe you one for getting me out of there. I can't thank you enough" He continued, giving me a smile again, trying to ease of the awkwardness of the situation, but I don't think it was ever rescue-able.

"I'm...going to go. Hope you get better soon" I quickly murmured, heading off quickly before he had the chance to respond. As I left, I saw the concerned look of the second soldier in the bed next to Zero, but he quickly averted his gaze. As soon as I left the infirmary, I put my head in my hands, coiling up against the wall, cringing at my inability to speak to a human being. I could not have messed that conversation up any further. And now he thinks that he owes me one. And I would have to see him tomorrow anyway when I came in for the check on my tail. How could I be so stupid? I tried to snap myself out of it, shaking my head at myself as I headed for the command center, to meet with Bradford for a proper mission debrief.

It took me a little bit of searching to find the command center, as I didn't recall where it was from my short tour, but the bright blue hologram in the room shining through the window was indication enough of where I need to go. As I walked through the door, red lights started flashing, and a loud alarm quickly alerted everyone to my presence in the room.

' _Unauthorized personnel in the command center'_ A feminine, robotic voice read out over the noise as Bradford quickly headed over from where he was in the command center to help me.

"Would someone please fix this? I don't have the time" He shouted above the noise, as he began to usher me out of the room again, the noise stopping as soon as the door closed behind us.

"Sorry about that, I forgot that you weren't quite 'registered' with our ship's systems yet. But thank you for coming up to see me for the debrief. I've got the report from the doctor of the shape that Zero was in when he entered the infirmary, I think we all owe it to you that he is still with us, as it stands. As promised, you will be promoted to Lieutenant for your bravery and actions this morning, and will receive some training from us on what we expect from you as a soldier" He commended, beginning to walk away from the command center. I looked back at the room, the red lights no longer flashing, and just the bright blue holograph of the planet in the middle of the room.

"Central, what's a Lieutenant?" I asked, unsure of what rank he was referring to. I currently only knew of the rookie rank, which I assume the rank I was given was now above.

"Of course, my apologies, Viper, I should have explained better. We here at X-Com have a military ranking system to represent the amount of training a soldier will have received and the general competence of the soldier in the field. Whilst you still need to get up to date with the training side of it, you have proved you are worthy of this rank. The order of the ranks is Rookie, Squaddie, Corporal, Sergent, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel. But I really shouldn't be putting you in a class the same as every other soldier here" Bradford continued, pacing down the corridors at his usual brisk pace. I didn't know where we were going, but I didn't dare interrupt him explaining things to me.

"As you may have noticed, we have four different classes of soldiers here; Snipers, Rangers, Grenadiers, and Specialists. Each class determines the training they will receive, and what role they play on the field. However, I think it is a bit of a waste categorizing you in this way. Our Chief Engineer, Dr. Shen, had a little Eureka moment, and has been the large inspiration for the development of our Viper Class. I think she's made it her pet project to essentially design you as a soldier for us. She's been working on things for you since you announced to me that you wanted to join, so I was going to take you down to visit her yourself"

The amount of information was overwhelming, to say the least, partially because I felt quite tired at this point, but the last part had certainly got my attention. "When you say she has been the large inspiration of my new class, as you put it, what do you mean?" I asked quizzically. He didn't glance back towards me as I questioned him, instead looking straight ahead as he continued along the corridors.

"Well, everything. She's enlisted the help of our Doctor Tygan on understanding Viper's biological strengths and weaknesses, and designed a training schedule based on this, under the Commander's approval, naturally. And, of course, she's been working on new armor for you. We can't have you going around wearing that Advent crap. I suppose it was rather fitting that we have just created our new armor recently as well" He gave a sharp grin at the end, as he started to approach a set of double doors, the luminescent sign above the doors simply read 'Engineering'.

He entered the room, holding the door open for me to follow, into a large room, with a workbench near the front. Though it must have been early in the morning, under a solitary light hanging over the table, was a small girl, sparks flying away from the table near her face, a loud grinding noise covering our entrance.

"Shen! The Viper's here" Bradford called out above the noise she was making. She jumped up from the table, turning around to face us, revealing that she was wearing a metal mask of some sort, which I presume was to protect her face from whatever was causing the sparks to fly at her earlier.

"Wow, I finally get to meet you in person!" She exclaimed excitedly, setting down the tool in her hand quickly, and heading over towards us. "I will admit I never thought you would end up siding with us, but I'm definitely not going to complain! In fact, I've taken the opportunity to be the first to designate an Alien class for X-Com, and design it all by myself. Who knows, maybe you won't be the last to help us?" She smiled, holding her hands resting on her hips. She looked similar to Echo, but different, noticeably, at the same time. She was quite short and looked less feminine than I have come to expect from other girls, but it certainly made her stand out.

"Don't rush into it too much, Shen. Recruiting this Viper on board the Avenger is likely to be a one-off, I wouldn't expect it any other way" Bradford quickly dismissed her excitement, though it did little to calm her down much. In fact, I'm not sure she was even listening to him.

"Anyway, follow me. I need to show you what I've done so far" She chirped, leading the way to the bench first, lifting the metal off of the table to show to me. What she held up looked like my Advent armor, just a lot bigger, and shinier. Instead of the brown/black color scheme that painted my previous armor, what she held up was more of a silver/grey color, with a very large X-Com sigil on the front of the armor, underneath my chest. Unlike the Advent armor, the armor extended well below my chest, offering me more protection than I had before. I didn't have time to fully take it in before she started to explain her design to me.

"So, I took a lot of inspiration from the Advent armor, since it's likely to be a more optimum design, but made a lot of my own changes. I can't believe they left so much of you revealed, considering. I understand that it improves maneuverability, but it's just a bit exposing. Not that I actually noticed until I read Tygan's notes, of course, but it's beside the point. I have layered the plating of the armor, so it should allow you to retain flexibility as much as before, but with a lot of added protection. The hood armor completely encompasses your hood and back of your neck now, and wraps around fully to you torso armor, providing coverage all the way to your lower back, again, without sacrificing any mobility. Hopefully." She hurriedly explained, shooting me a sort of nervous glance at the end, before flipping the armor back to the front, and undoing the catches, all three pairs of them.

"I've used the same clasping system as Advent did, but by using a 6-clasp system, this should allow you to adjust it to be more comfortable. And the coup-de-grace, is this..." She opened up the armor, revealing a black lining along the inside, along both the back and front. There seemed to be plenty of padding near the chest area especially, but I could understand as to why that was the case. I didn't question it too much. "A black, cotton underlining. How the Advent armor didn't drive you nuts is beyond me, it must rub on your scales constantly. This undershirt is separable, so you would put it on before the armor. It's supposed to just reduce the friction, so it is quite figure-hugging, but it will do a great job for you, I'm sure you'll notice the difference. And of course, it's all modular, so you can attach and detach the pieces at will, like the shoulder greaves, gauntlets, hood armor, the lowermost parts of the torso are also separate, as the extension of the armor is not completely necessary" She finished with a grin. To say I was surprised by the amount of effort gone into the armor was an understatement. And in such a short time period too, I was amazed by her efficiency and speed.

"Thank you very much, Shen. The amount of thought you have put into this is huge, I can't thank you enough" I began, trying my best to convey my happiness as to how much she cared.

"Ah, ah, that's not all!" She playfully smiled, turning the armor back around. "I mean, there's more to the armor, and there's more I want to show you after. But we'll get to that next" She pressed a button on the gauntlet of the armor, and a thin wire shot out past me, narrowly missing me. I quickly snapped around to face where the wire had gone to, seeing a metal claw latched onto the wall near the door.

"4-millimeter alloy wire, this should be able to support your entire weight, and allow you to move through the battlefield at extreme speed, so you can utilize heights as you fight as well. The hook can be activated and retracted using this simple button of the gauntlet" She explained pressing the button again to return the wire to its home. She didn't give me much time to show my awe, as she headed over to a longer table past the workbench, beckoning us to follow her. I could just see Bradford admiring her work in silent admiration, clearly impressed by what she was doing.

"And this, is the adaptation of the standard Advent beam rifle. I found a bunch of inhibitors on the gun design, so I removed these, which should increase the power output of the weapon. I test fired it several times, and found that it was rather unsafe to have these restriction removed, so I modified the weapon further so that the flaws in the rifle, which were usually to do with heat sinks for the plasma, was sorted using extra alloys to improve the entire design. And that's just the standard weapon, which I've built upon" She gushed, turning around to reveal the rifle to me. It looked similar, except there was a much larger build around the barrel of the weapon, using a more sleek design of the brackets I had seen around the magnetic weaponry, fitting into the smooth design of the Advent rifle we were issued.

"I've made a few adjustments of my own, specifically to fit into the type of class I've built for you. The weapon has two firing modes, semi-automatic, and fully automatic. There is a huge difference between the two, as the full auto rounds fire out the plasma at lower concentrations and velocity, resulting in high fire rate, high spread plasma rounds, which have a more noticeable travel time. The semi-auto mode concentrates the plasma and superheats it within the barrel, resulting in an instant, powerful round being released. You'll be able to fire off four semi-auto shots before reload, or 36 full auto rounds. This essentially turns your beam rifle into a much more potent, sub-machine-gun-sniper-rifle-hybrid. I've decided to call it the SSH, to shorten the moniker for it. Sorry, I'm not great with names" She prattled, quickly returning from her short tangent. "And to complete the weapon, I've added a main scope to the weapon, 8x magnification, using a lens based on Tygan's notes of the Viper retina. This should be used with the Sniper mode, whilst there is a 45-degree red dot sight for the submachine gun mode. I've added a gyro-compensating mechanism to the muzzle of the weapon also, so it should allow you to control the recoil from the weapon." She finally breathed, handing over the weapon for me to feel.

It was a little heavier than I would have imagined it to be, almost twice as heavy as the beam rifle I was used to, but certainly not too heavy, I could easily carry this around while moving at almost full speed. It seemed like the class she was filling for me was going to be a sort of skirmisher-sniper, based on the weapon and intricacy of the armor, but I had a feeling I was going to have exactly what she had planned out for me explained now. Shen handed me a laminated sheet of paper which detailed my training, as I still stood speechless trying to take in the amount of effort gone into this. The training outlined the expected accuracy, and mobility required from me, which would be achieved through training routines outlined on the paper to be completed at the gym, guerilla tactics school, and shooting range. It seems she even factored in the Viper's tongue pull and poison spit into the class tactics section of the page. Shen had really thoroughly thought out the class she seemed to have made herself, and how she did it in such a short time was a wonderment to me.

"Shen, this is...this is...just... astounding..." I hesitated, trying to find the correct word for what she had done. "I can't thank you enough for this"

"No need for thanks, idle hands make an idle mind, right? I enjoyed working on it, it was something new" She smiled, turning to Bradford afterward. "Thanks for bringing her down to me. Just in time too, I just finished that armor"

"Good work, Shen. There's no one else I would count on for that sort of thing" He nodded towards her, picking back up the armor from the table himself. "I would suggest you start wearing this around X-Com, Lieutenant. I think it will be more in place than the shirts we've given you to wear so far, anyway. That, and the huge X-Com logo should stop anybody from getting any ideas. I don't have a clue how they will react, but you have my word that you have X-Com's support" He ordered, handing the armor and undershirt to me. I will admit, I was dying to try it on, to see if it was as comfortable as Shen said. That way, it would combine the ease of wearing something that didn't restrain me, while still having the same grandiose feeling of donning armor.

"Get to training then, Lieutenant. I'm expecting you to be ready within your recovery period" He finalized, heading over towards the door and holding it open for me again. I quickly waved bye to Shen, mouthing thank you to her, though I doubt she could read Viper speech as such, before heading through the door, clutching my new armor to my chest with one arm whilst holding my new schedule with my free hand. The next few days was going to be tough, that's for sure.

* * *

(Sergent Zero, 9:29 EST 4/20/2035, location: Unknown)

It had been a quiet couple of days since I had been admitted to the infirmary following my rescue from the prison. The medkits had certainly been doing their jobs, the wounds on my arms were already almost healed, and maybe my back injury as well, but I couldn't tell other than the lack of pain in that area. But my chest still ached constantly, my injury exacerbated by my treatment at the prison. At least the Doctor believed that it was because of the prison experience, and not due to the Viper on board the Avenger that this was the case. But she said there wasn't much she could do to aid the recovery of it quickly, and that I just needed to rest. Which meant I wouldn't be in here long, I just need to wait for her to release me, then I'd be able to just get some rest, but I wouldn't be called up for duty for a while.

Regardless, Venom had been my main source of entertainment whilst at the infirmary, it was nice catching up with him properly, he was a lot friendlier with me, now that we knew each other a bit better. And I suppose he must have been quite bored without much company here too anyway, though the Doctor often talked to him over a few periods of the day. Thanks to the medkit improvements, Venom's recovery was looking to be quite quick as well, and he was also due to be released shortly.

But over the past two days, Brick had come in briefly just after lunch time to talk with me, and fill me in on the situation. She told me about how everyone was really happy that I had made it back, and that it had earned the Viper a lot of brownie points. She informed just how much of a part the Viper actually played in my rescue, giving the information as to where I was held as well as coming in to rescue me herself. I was really grateful for how much the Viper had done for me, but I couldn't help but feel she was doing it out of guilt for her previous actions. Whatever the case, she had certainly outdone herself, I owed her a lot. But I hadn't seen her since she came in on the first day to have her wounds checked as well, that ended up being awkward enough for me. Brick said that she had to accompany the Viper everywhere on the Avenger at the moment, and the only reason the Viper wasn't with her when she was visiting me was because she was asleep. The mission must have messed with her sleep pattern quite badly for that to be the case, I felt quite sorry for her.

However, today, Brick came in quite early, this time with the Viper in tow. I heard the doors to the infirmary swing open this morning just after I had finished my breakfast, Brick coming round the corner beaming, and the Viper behind her. I almost did a double take as I saw her, as she donned a majestic piece of plate armor that followed her figure closely, with a big X-Com symbol on the front. No mistaking who she fought for now, that's for sure. It was interesting that she was wearing armor around the Avenger, as soldiers were normally required to just be in casual wear, but I think it was better that the Viper kept the armor on.

"Morning, Zero!" Brick greeted cheerfully, giving me a two fingered salute as she approached my bed.

"Good morning, Zero" The Viper added, giving me a short wave of her hand as well.

"Morning guys. I really like the new armor on you, Viper" I commented, returning their smiles to them, and adjusting myself to face them a bit easier.

"I know, right? Shen worked on it overnight on the day I rescued you. It feels amazing, but she's put so much effort into it. She's also designed a new weapon for me, and basically created a new class just for me to be in X-Com. With the cooperation of the Commander, of course. And the armor does help in not freaking people out as much" She agreed quickly. "I did come in yesterday with it on to have my check up here, but you were asleep, so I didn't wake you"

"Huh, Shen really went all out on that one then" I commented "Sounds just like her"

"You know, Deadbolt was actually talking about having a party, once you're back on your feet. You know, like go down tot he rec room and do some drinking games or something with loud music, to celebrate you being back with us. Even though you were only gone for a short time, it's great that you're back with us" Brick grinned.

"Awesome. Venom's almost back too, so he can come join us for the party, if it's not too soon" I grinned, looking over to Venom. The poor guy was still asleep in his bed, his mouth comically hanging open, but at least he wasn't snoring.

"Ah, Viper!" A female voice called from the other side of the infirmary, with the unmistakable accent to accompany it. "You are early today for your check-up! It is good to see you so eager to come here" She laughed, coming over towards us. "Morning all. Shall we get that tail looked at then?" She asked to the Viper, leading her away from us. As soon as she was out of earshot, Brick took the opportunity to talk to me about her.

"She's doing well aboard the Avenger, but unfortunately there are still a lot of people who don't like her being aboard the ship with us. Most noticeably Goblin. You know, he wouldn't speak to me whilst I was with her at all, he just flat out ignored me. Told me later it was because he didn't want to chat to the 'Xeno'. He can be a real ass sometimes" she confided, giving a short frown.

"Goblin never liked her though, this isn't exactly new" I explained.

"Yeah, I know. There's quite a few who will just avoid her, mostly, which isn't too bad, save for the few looks they shoot her way. And Samurai isn't too fond of speaking to her either, though he'll usually just stay silent and let others talk around him. Not that that's particularly out of character, but you know, it's still quite rude when she's trying to introduce herself as a team member." She continued.

I frowned in response. "Has she at least been getting on with others?"

"Yeah, she's eating her meals with me, Firehawk and Echo quite regularly. I think Echo's still a little cold to her, but that's to be expected, right? And she's getting to know the two rookies we're now cooped up with, though the little things are probably just flat out frightened of her" She laughed. "How are you doing, anyway? Pain wise, I mean"

"The cuts are feeling a lot better. The new adaptations to the medkits make it hurt twice as much, but heal twice as fast, at least" I responded, laughing inwardly to myself at the overreaction of the Viper on the night of my rescue, when she had her wound tended to. "But my chest hurts quite bad. And I haven't looked in a mirror recently, so I don't know how disfigured I exactly look at the moment"

"Well, you look just as handsome as usual. Except for the huge black mark around your eye, of course," Brick grinned, leaning against the wall beside my bed. "I can't imagine what you had to go through there. Who knows what would have happened if we didn't get you out as quickly as we did?" She sounded worried, but quickly changed the subject regardless. "Doesn't matter now, does it? Just glad you're back with us, and we have the Viper there to thank for it"

"To think she was our own prisoner just a few days back" I chuckled, noticing the irony of the situation.

"Yeah, I know. And now look where she has come, you know she outranks you now, right?" She grinned, crossing her arms over her body.

"What?" I quickly snapped back at her. "Already? She just joined, how is that fair? What rank is she?"

"Lieutenant, first promotion. Seems like the Commander believes she's at that level, not her fault. She deserves it, you know, few people could have done what she managed" She argued back, her stupid smile still on her face. I noticed Brick turn her attention upwards from me and towards the Viper, who was coming back, with a fresh bandage applied to her tail. "How's the injury?" Brick asked, looking down towards her bandaged wound.

"Almost healed completely. The Doctor said that the medkit seemed to work better on my injury compared to what she had seen on others, she seemed quite excited to bring the results to Doctor Tygan, I don't know" She shrugged. "Were you guys talking about me whilst I was gone?" She asked, grudgingly. Seems like she picked up on that fact, maybe we weren't being quiet enough. But Brick didn't deny it or be subtle.

"Of course we were" she winked at the Viper, causing her to grimace slightly in response, but she quickly shook it off. "Oh, actually, I'm glad I remembered. Zero, we need to come up with a name for the new Lieutenant. I've spoken to her about it before, but she doesn't really know"

"I didn't realize we put so much effort into thinking up a nickname for someone. It'll come in time" I shrugged. It sounded forced to come up with your own nickname, especially if it was in collaboration with others.

"No, no, not a 'nickname', a real name! It's not fitting that her name is just a number, it's not X-Com" She argued. I gave her a look that said 'really?', due to my nickname also being just a number. The Viper seemed to pick up on this quicker than Brick did, giggling slightly at the exchange.

"Come on, be serious, Zero. It's not the same" She turned to the Viper. "You don't want your name to forever be a code that Advent designated you, right?"

I saw the Viper shake her head briefly, though I couldn't tell whether it was in disagreement or agreement. "No, you're right, Brick, I do need a new name. In truth, I've actually been giving it a lot of thought since you brought it up..." She admitted

"And?" Brick pressed, watching the Viper abashedly glance from me to Brick several times, before relenting her answer.

"Kassara" She mumbled, immediately breaking all eye contact with us, her hand rubbing her arm across her body, though I couldn't see a blush on her features.

"That's a nice name. Kassara, has a nice ring to it" Brick agreed. "Where'd you get it from? It's nothing I've heard before"

"Well...It's a word from my old language, or, I should say a..." She paused as she rubbed two of her claws together in thought. "A bastardization of my language. Loosely translated into English, it means free" She explained.

"That's cute" I responded automatically, without thinking too much about what I said, until I saw the Viper glance towards me with a more noticeable blush on her face, though still somewhat hidden, as her tail flicked on the floor a couple of times. I think I had begun to become a bit better at reading her expressions, either through body movements or through her more limited facial expressions. Thankfully, Brick also interjected before we had a second awkward moment.

"That's a great name then!" Brick congratulated. "It sounds quite natural, it suits you well, Kassara"

"Thank you, Brick. And, uh, I kind of had a small favor to ask of you, Zero," She began, turning from Brick towards me. "As part of my training, I need to practice a few skills and abilities for my new class, and I could really use your help on it, if you are able to. I mean, when you've healed, of course" She hastily asked, blundering over her sentence slightly at the end. It was good to see her so committed to helping X-Com, it was obvious that she was serious about being part of the cause.

"Yes, once I'm better" I agreed, nodding towards her. "Just tell me when you want it"

"Thank you, Zero" She smiled her slightly odd Viper smile, clearly relaxing somewhat now she had got it out of the way.

"Alright, I should probably be off, Kassara's reminded me I need to really hit the gym at some point. We'll see you around, Zero" Brick smiled, giving me a quick wave as she got up from the wall, which I returned, as both of them left the infirmary, leaving me back to my own thoughts. I couldn't wait to get out of the infirmary now.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 13:01 EST 4/20/2035, location: Unknown)

Over the past 3 hours, I had been training down in the firing range with my new weapon, in accordance to the laminated sheet of paper I had been given by Shen. We had to go down to Engineering to pick it back up first, which resulted in Shen making a few comments about the armor, saying it looked better than she would have imagined, and fit me perfectly. She looked so tired, did she ever actually sleep?

Heading back to the firing range, with Brick of course, as she still had to look over me, the three hours seemed sluggish as I continued firing away with my weapon, adjusting the sights as necessary, and undergoing the few practices Shen had set out for me. Apart from long range sniping, I had to practice shooting multiple targets one after another, in what Shen called a 'kill zone', which proved more difficult than I thought. Another thing Shen lined out was called 'Skirmish', or put simply, running to cover whilst laying down fire on a target. The idea was to maintain accuracy by use of the gyro-compensating mechanism of the gun, which still took me a while, but there was a simple trick to it, which was not trying to use the sights at all and just hip firing, as the recoil was mostly taken away from the gun itself, and it was just my movement making the weapon inaccurate.

I'm not sure Brick really appreciated being dragged down to the firing range for so long, whilst she certainly practised her firing for the first hour, she spent the other two trying to chat to me in between firing rounds, largely about her gun, or reading through my sheet, or just sitting around doing nothing. I felt sorry for her and offered multiple times if she wanted to go to the gym instead, but she insisted on staying, which I was certainly thankful for, considering my limited timescale that Shen had given me to learn all of these skills.

But afterward, we broke for lunch, and as soon as we entered the cafeteria, I quickly regretted going for lunch so early. Or late, I didn't even know, but there were a lot of people in the hall, the most I'd ever seen there. The same ritual of people glancing up at me, often with uncertainty on their face, was still prevalent, but now even more people were doing it. Brick diverted my attention from the crowd by pointing out Vandal and one of the rookies sat together. It was the male rookie who had challenged Goblin when Goblin threatened to kill me again in my newer cell. I hadn't seen him since I joined X-Com.

Brick grabbed the food from the trays quickly before sitting down next to them, as I followed suit, again only picking out the meat on each of the trays, which today was pork sausages and a few meatballs. I sat down next to Brick, trying not to pay attention to the numerous glances I still received, though I was faced with the uncomfortable glances being given from the rookie sat opposite me.

"Hey" I greeted both of them, as I curled up more on the chair, trying to find the sweet spot that was comfortable enough for me.

"Afternoon, Viper" Vandal responded back, briefly turning his attention away from his food to wave at me, before returning to the job at hand. The rookie simply glanced towards Vandal, before looking back to me, and swallowing. I think Brick picked up on his apprehensiveness pretty quickly and tried to interject.

"Hey, you're the new rookie, right? How are you finding it here?" She asked, breaking his routine of nervous glances to go towards her.

"Yeah...it's fine" He responded bluntly, fidgeting with his hands as he answered. He hadn't touched his food since I had sat down, and I could tell that Brick wasn't going to get anywhere with him quickly, so I decided to take the matter into my hands instead.

"You look like you haven't seen an Alien before" I joked, giving my best attempt at a smirk, though I'm sure I butchered it, as it wasn't one of the facial expressions I had really practised. He ceased his fidgeting at me directly speaking to him, but he still looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Well...no, never" He admitted, his body posture slightly hunched over itself. I again had to feel bad for the rookies, they were joining up to an anti-alien movement, having an Alien there wasn't going to make it easy for them to settle in, exactly. "It's just...well, I saw you in the cell. I know you were one of them"

"Dude, come on, don't be so mean" Vandal interjected, nudging him slightly on the soldier. "She's one of us now. She rescued Zero from the prison, you know. Takes a lot of balls to do that"

"Sorry, didn't mean anything by it" He apologized quickly, finally returning to eat his food.

"I didn't take anything from it, don't worry," I reassured. "Anyway, I really owe you thanks for helping me out with Goblin, seriously. I'm Kassara. Nice to meet you" I nodded towards him. The small conversation had soothed the tension slightly, and had at least got introduction kind of out of the way, but Vandal was quick to pull up on what I had said.

"Kassara?" He questioned, still finishing the food in his mouth. "What's this about?"

"I've been forcing the Viper into getting a new name for herself, since I couldn't be bothered calling her by her previous name" Brick laughed at Vandal's reaction. "So she finally chose Kassara. Means 'free' in her language"

"Sorry, but that's kind of stupid" He shook his head, smirking at Brick.

"Thank you, Vandal" I crowed in agreement. "That's what I thought of it. But, I think it's probably for the best anyway. Though I'll admit, it's a little relieving leaving behind my old name"

"I guess. Whatever floats your boat" He responded. I didn't understand what he meant by it, but he didn't seem to continue, so I shrugged it off.

"Oh, by the way, the Commander's sent some people out on a new mission. Both of the other rookies left on it. Apparently, we're not the only resistance to Advent out here! There's another few groups of resistance factions that also take the fight to Advent" Vandal announced.

"Oh yeah, I heard that Bradford was trying to set something up since the new resistance comms have been built. What kind of groups are we talking about?" Brick responded enthusiastically to him. I glanced down towards their plates, noticing that they had already both finished, yet the rookie and I were still poking around at the final pieces of food on our plates.

"They're called the Reapers, and the Skirmishers. They actually helped get the Commander out from the Advent clinic he was rescued from, they supplied all the intel for it. But here's the problem, they absolutely hate each other" He continued

"What, why? That's so counter-intuitive" I interrupted his explanation. "They're both fighting Advent, so what's the issue?"

"The Reapers are very anti-Advent, and so are the Skirmishers. Except the Skirmishers are all ex-Advent. They've been at arms with each other since the beginning. It's only just now that the Commander has been able to sit them at the same table."

"Ex-Advent?" I questioned. I had completely forgotten about the food I was just eating, but there were other defectors? I didn't think that was possible, I never met any Alien or Advent personnel that wasn't following the word of Advent 100%. Especially the Advent troops, I was so sure they were clones. Maybe they weren't then, if they were able to abandon their cause and form a new one.

"Yeah. I think a lot of people are on the side of the Reapers, but truth is, we need everyone's help, Alien and Advent included, in order to take down the Elders. Infighting isn't gonna help anyone" He preached, placing his cutlery on his plate. I looked towards the rookie, who had finished his food, so now they were just waiting on me, so I quickly tried to finish off the last of my food.

"And this mission is going on at the moment?" The rookie asked, breaking his silence since my poor introduction to him.

"Yeah, should be. We should go watch at the rec center after this" Vandal nodded, picking up his tray, Brick following suit. I scarfed down the last few meatballs I had on my plate, before I too followed the group, trying to catch up to them slightly.

The rec room was quite close, so it didn't take long to head over. As we entered, a slightly repugnant smell filled the air, I couldn't help but let my tongue 'taste' the air a few more times to get use to it a bit more, but I don't think anyone noticed. Vandal headed over, past the drinks bar on the right, where the smell was the strongest, and towards the TV at the end of the room, surrounded by a bunch of sofas and beanbags. Whilst the other three happily crashed down on a piece of furniture, I elected to remain standing, preferring resting in my own coils to sitting down.

As the TV flickered on, the plastic people on the news filled the screen immediately, news in the background of a prison break. I inwardly grinned as they tried to pin it on extremists knowing full well that it was because of me, and not some human, as they portrayed. But Vandal quickly changed the channels before they could continue, showing the camera view of the squad. The camera showed a huge city in the background, a light green fog filling the air around them, as they stood along an abandoned train track, the soldiers onlooking as two figures walked up towards each other, one with a rifle in hand, that looked kind of like a sniper, who wore a mask and hood, in black clothing, their garment flowing by their feet as the walked, whilst the second wore white and red armor, fur around the neckline of his suit, his weapon holstered across his back as he approached.

"These are the guys? They have their own uniforms?" Brick asked, no answer entertaining her question, as everyone sat watching the scene unfold. It seemed like they were merely talking, all weapons being pointed in the opposite direction to each other: the rifle remained holstered, whilst the sniper lay against the shadowed figure's shoulder. But in an instant, the sniper was drawn, pointing at the white suit donned by the resistance fighter, whilst he unveiled a hook in his hand, striking an offensive pose, threatening the other to try something. I could feel myself hold my breath as the two remained static for several seconds, not wavering.

The cloaked fighter started to lower her rifle to the ground after the standoff, resulting in the other lowering his weapon, everything seemed to start to relax. I almost missed what happened next as I blinked, but the rifle snapped back up, and a shot fired. I expected to see the white figure fall to the ground, but instead, a flash of blue sparked near his shoulder, so brief I couldn't quite tell what it was, but the X-Com soldiers quickly sprang to their feet, weapons at the ready. The suited fighter pointed out his wrist past the other, a wire firing in the direction he was pointing, as the blue spark flashed again, this time revealing the being behind the mirage.

There stood a black-clad humanoid figure, its face a dull blue-grey color, wielding a large, but thin sword in its hand, with some sort of gun on its back. The armor it wore hugged its figure, showing the athletic, lean build of the being, yet clearly provided armor from attacks. It stood for a while, before it jumped off the bridge, disappearing into an array of blue crystal-like specs, which seemed to dissolve into the air before they could fall.

"What the hell is that thing" I hissed at the screen. I had never seen anything like this in my entire life, was it a new type of Alien I had just never come across before? Was it some sort of clone from Advent? Was it a human? There's no way...

"I don't know...She seems like some kind of assassin. The squad is only made up of 2 rookies and 2 Sergeants, they aren't prepared for this!" Brick called out, standing up from her beanbag, hands held over her head as she looked desperately at the screen. The soldiers broke their formation, spreading out over the bridge, seeming to try and hunt for the invisible threat. Without warning, the figure appeared to jump up onto the bridge in the middle of them, striking one of the soldiers with her sword, before simply vanishing again, presumably leaving the bridge again. The soldier had fallen to his hands and knees, swaying slightly as he dropped his rifle to the ground. One of the rookies ran over to help the Sergeant up, before the thing could strike again.

The second rookie lowered herself from the bridge, standing out near the middle of the underpass, in the open. Was the Commander using her as bait? if so, she followed the order without hesitation. I wonder if she knew what they were doing. I could just make out the cloaked figure also hiding on the ground, taking cover around a pillar, barely visible herself.

As expected, the assassin struck again, the rookie falling to the sword slash, onto her back, as the assassin once again retreated. It seemed to easy for her. As was done previously, a soldier jumped down to help the rookie to her feet again, whilst the remaining three soldiers waited on top. The cloaked figure underneath started to move, sticking to the shadows, as the camera started to pan to get a better visual. As it crossed the bridge, and showed the other side of the ground, the cloaked figure shot at nothingness. I expected nothing from the shot, but the bullet struck something, the blue flashes revealed the assassin to everyone present. The whole squad immediately jumped into action, the three soldiers on the bridge lining up at the edge, as the rookie launched a grenade towards the cover the creature was using. With the cover blown and the assassin dazed, several shots fired off, finding their mark as the assassin fell to the floor, before a pillar of purple light engulfed where she once stood, leaving nothing behind.

"Shit...what the hell just happened" The rookie whispered behind me. "Did they kill it?"

"No...there's nothing left. She's still there. But she's gone for now" Vandal annotated, watching the TV closely, as we all were. The 6 soldiers then burst from the bridge, sprinting towards one of the buildings nearby, obviously heading for extraction before anything could happen. Before they entered the building, however, several bodies lurched out of the doorway to the group, dull green figures that seemed to resemble the form of humans, with bright yellow eyes and vacant stares closed down the soldiers. A hail of bullets quickly erupted, downing all of the bodies in front of them as they progressed.

"What the hell is this mission? What are those? Are they zombies? " exasperated Brick, jabbing both arms in the direction of the screen. I let the silence hang as nobody found the answer to her question, leaving me to be the informant.

"They are the lost..." I started, earning the stares from each of the people sitting around me. "Humans that have succumbed to weapons used in the first contact war. Very little of their previous selves remain. They are the living dead"

"Zombies? And you thought this world couldn't get more fucked up" Vandal clucked, shaking his head. "How does this even happen? How did we not know about this?"

"Advent will always have their secrets..." Brick hissed herself, sitting back down on the beanbag she was previously sat on, going back to watching the TV. The soldiers were clearly approaching the marked drop zone, fending off hordes of the mindless creatures as they swarmed the site. The soldiers started to extract, climbing up a blue container and onboard the Skyranger. The two resistance soldiers fought side by side, shoulder to shoulder, as they battled back the creatures, until the cloaked figure peeled off to extract, and began shooting at the creatures surrounding the other from the ramp. As the suited soldier took the opportunity to reach the Skyranger, he leaped up the container, holstering his weapon as he did so, and made way to the ship. But the familiar speck of blue appeared, as a hand reached out from nothingness to wrap around his neck, the figure of assassin flashing up once more, her demonic grin now visible from the camera, as the soldiers raised their rifles, unable to shoot at the monstrosity that hid behind the resistance soldier now captured in her grasp. As before, a pillar of brilliant purple light beamed down from the heavens, leaving no remains of either the assassin or the soldier she just had, as the cloaked figure sunk to their knees, laying their rifle down at their side, as the ramp closed.

"No..." Vandal sighed, his head falling into his hands, as the screen turned black, the camera now turned off, as its use was no longer required. The fate of the soldier taken remained unknown, whether he was just captured, or whether he already lay dead at the hands of the one who took him. How do you beat something like that, something that can hide from your sight in broad daylight, striking only when you least expect it. I shivered at the thought, feeling the rattle travel down my entire body. I hope this was all worth it in the end.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 18:47 EST 4/21/2035, location: Unknown)

The mission that I looked over never really left my thoughts for the rest of that evening, remaining with me even when I decided to give up for the day and head to bed, keeping me awake in thought late into the night. The face of the creature I had seen was still fresh, the rigid complexion, the two black stripes that marked their face, outlining the terrifying snarl, only amplified otherwise by their piercing purple eyes. That was the face of death, if I had ever seen it, I already feared the being, despite not seeing it personally. But we had already defeated her once, on the first occasion, with little trouble, mostly due to the actions of the cloaked figure, who I came to later know as a 'Reaper'. Fitting name, I suppose.

So, despite a late start to the day, I had spent most of it, as always, with Brick, who stayed cheerful and accommodating towards me, despite having to spend even more of her time in my company, which led her to being stuck in the training rooms for a large majority of the time. As much as she tried to hide it, she didn't have much of an attention span, that's for sure. Her boredom set in within 40 minutes of watching me practice my shooting, at which point she started taking some of the other weapons from the wall and firing them down one of the other ranges, despite the fact that she never uses those weapons. I was getting more used to my gun, however, and I was finding controlling it easier by the hour, the weight of the weapon now of no concern to me as I moved around fluidly with it. The shooting range wasn't really big enough to use the scope attached to the top of the rifle, which lay in such a way that I could comfortably lower my head to aim down it, save for one long lane with a singular target at the end, which was the lane I spent more than half of today shooting down to practice using the scope.

I still couldn't get it down though, firing the sniper setting of the 'SSH', as Shen ordained it, I just couldn't keep the gun steady enough to keep the target in the sights, even though I had the stock jammed firmly into my shoulder. I think I may end up bruising it if I'm not careful, but I could feel myself being wound up by my own inability to use the weapon. Maybe I would have to bring this to attention to Shen, but I was expected to be ready for active duty in two days, which meant I had two days to get this down. I would feel guilty if I turned around to Shen now and said I didn't like the gun, which isn't 100% the case, regardless, the point remains. But Brick eventually pulled me away from the range, having heard me hiss in frustration one too many times, convincing me to give my weapon back to Shen. I thought of mentioning the scope to her, but I would just be failing her if I did. I just needed to work around it, maybe Zero could help tomorrow at some point.

Apparently, since yesterday's mission, the Reaper had decided to stay with X-Com, and had now been accepted onto our ranks, to aid us in our fight against the Elders. With the presence of the Assassin in the field now, she might end up being crucial for our efforts, someone just as able to walk in the shadows as an invisible being. I hadn't met up with her yet since then, though Brick seemed hesitant upon the subject of introductions with her. So it was to my surprise, that as I walked through the Cafeteria doors, following Brick in after our training session, that I caught a glimpse of the figure sat at one of the tables, a cold glare in my direction, with her hood that she wore up during the mission, now down behind her. Brick quickly did a 180-degree turn, trying to prevent me from entering through the door, her hand pressing against the X-Com symbol that marked my armor, but it was too late, I was already in.

"What is that _thing_ doing here?!" The figure called out loudly, her voice low, harsh, and dry, as she stood up from her table, drawing all attention in the hall to both her and me. Brick stopped ushering me out, turning around to observe the hall, now deadly silent, waiting in anticipation. "Why is there an Alien at X-Com?! I did not sign up for this!" She complained again, throwing the attack at me. I felt myself huff at the statement, ready to answer back to the female so loudly outspoken to my presence, but Brick was quick to answer once she realized my intentions.

"She's a part of X-Com, and fights for us. There's no need for alarm. Kassara, this is Elena, the Reaper who has joined us, from yesterday's mission" Brick introduced quickly, a smile splitting across her face as she remained as friendly as usual, staying her ground by me at the door. Nobody returned to their food, as the woman moved the chair from behind her away, moving closer towards us, her arms purposefully folded across her body. She seemed to almost ignore Brick completely, her eyes locked with mine, glaring daggers in my direction.

" _Vipers_ don't fight against the Elders, they fight with them," She dismissed, approaching us, but keeping her distance enough. "That thing should not be on this ship, unless you plan to leak all of your secrets straight into the ears of Advent. They should be put out of their misery, not housed up like some pet," The Reaper continued "Your own appeasement of one insignificant being will result in your deaths" I could see Brick pause for a moment to respond to the woman, Elena, in protest of her words, but I didn't give any time for her to diffuse the situation.

"I am not with Advent" I snapped back defiantly to her, subconsciously folding my arms in return, only noticing as the cold metal from my chest took away the heat from my arms. "I have proved I am an ally to X-Com, I don't need a newcomer to tell me my place"

"Such honeyed-up words, Viper. You know, us Reapers have a word for your species" She shot back, pacing slowly towards us, her eyes staring into mine with such ferocity, such determination. I could see Brick lose her smile, standing further in front of me ready to act if she needed to, protecting me from the threat in front. "We call you 'Dinner'" She spat, her words spoken with more venom than I could manage in a bite. The insinuation of her words shocked me and took me back by surprise, causing me to shake my head sharply, trying to find an alternate meaning for her words. Murmurs spread through the room upon her taunt, but the Reaper didn't turn around to look for help, she just continued to hold her ground.

"You...eat us?" I questioned, confused, watching the woman grin at her supposed superiority over me.

"Of course. And, let me tell you personally, that Viper meat is one of the most tender, leanest meats to have. It would be considered fit as a meal for a special occasion, if we didn't kill so many of you" She scoffed, causing a weighted feeling to build up in my chest as my anger grew. How dare she say that to me! I moved forwards, trying to use my height to intimidate her slightly as we stood mere meters apart, but Brick was quick to interject.

"Hey, that's enough" She ordered to the Reaper, placing her body between mine and Elena's. The woman wore such a confident smirk as she stared down the larger lady in front of her.

"What, the Viper can't fight for herself? Does she need to hide behind the bodies of X-Com to stay safe? Let me ask you, Brick, what happens when she's the reason X-Com soldiers die?" She provoked, deliberately trying to wind me up further. Needless to say, it was working. The rest of the hall now mainly sat in silence, not wanting to have any part in what was happening. I searched the crowd to see if I could see a few familiar faces; Deadbolt, Samurai, the male rookie I had met earlier, and several soldiers I recalled from my time as a prisoner were all there, but none stood up to help. Just Brick.

"Cause I won't let her." She answered immediately, facing down the woman as she stood her ground. "She doesn't need to lower herself to the standards you've set for yourself by picking this fight. Keep your prejudices to yourself" Brick chastised, making sure she placed herself directly in between me and the Reaper, so that the woman was only paying attention to her.

"You have got to be kidding me. Given half a chance, that thing will turn sides once it sees that it can live, and kill you without a second thought. She's a threat to everybody here, and you will happily defend that!" She shouted, raising her voice higher than Brick's, trying to reason with her. As aggressive as she had been about going about her argument, I don't think she was looking to make it physical.

"Kassara has more than earned her place alongside us, even within a short period of time, she has saved the life of another soldier by going out of her way to risk hers. Show some respect" Brick remained stoic, not faltering over a single word as she replied quickly, to avoid me having a say in the argument. With every word Elena said, I felt myself get angrier and angrier at her antagonistic words, I knew it was only a matter of time before she pushed me to do something stupid. But for now, I just remained in the back, seething at the words of the Reaper, coming up with insults and comebacks I would never use as Brick had prevented it. I disliked having someone fight my battles for me, but I didn't have much choice in this. At least Brick announcing my name to everyone in the room would make future re-introductions a bit easier.

"She has not earned my respect, and neither have you Brick. And you're not giving me a reason to show any, regardless. I don't understand why she has been allowed to stay here for any amount of time, she should be killed before she becomes a problem. Our kind hasn't suffered at the hands of those monsters to adopt them from the battlefield" Elena growled, pushing up closer to Brick, looking small in comparison to Brick's superior frame, but she didn't back down at all, willfully ignorant of Brick's superior strength and size.

"Look, If you have a problem with her being here, stop bothering us and go and say it straight to the Commander's face. At least that way when you leave X-Com you can go knowing that a Viper was more loyal to the cause than you were" The woman snarled as Brick shut her down, leaving her speechless with the last comment, Elena simply returning the stare, waiting a few moments before she peeled away from Brick, heading over to the table she was sat at when I first entered. The room stayed silent for a few more seconds, as Brick headed over towards the trays, waiting for me to follow, as I avoided looking back towards the provocateur as I got my dinner.

"Thank you, Brick" I hissed softly as we reached the food, slightly separated from the rest of the hall, as brick picked food up from every tray onto her plate, rapidly filling it up.

"It's not a problem. You know I'll stand up for you, I'm not going to let her bully you here" She dismissed, returning to her normal smiling, confident attitude. It was almost as if the altercation never happened to her. "But, I think we should probably just grab our own table today, to avoid discussing what just happened. Just don't fall into the trap of arguing back with her, she's looking for the fight. She wants you to give her a reason to attack you"

"Of course" I nodded, in agreement with her terms, following her closely. Eyes still followed me, as usual, but I fear for a different reason this time. The talk was very hushed, and there wasn't much question as to what most of the conversations were about, but I could understand why they were talking about it. I only hoped that they saw Brick's argument, and not Elena's. Brick found a small, empty table to sit down at, where we were far away enough from Elena that she wouldn't bother us. I took the seat opposite Brick, who had already begun to eat her food, maybe even faster as usual, compared to what I was doing, which was just pointlessly watching my food sit on its plate. I could still feel my anger at her, still trembling slightly from the animosity I felt towards my new critic. I wanted to ignore her, but it was another person to add to the list of people to look out for, except she was even more outspoken than the others. And she had some sort of natural charisma about her too, even now, after the argument, several soldiers still sat around her, happily chatting away, despite the scene she had just kicked up.

I suppose it added up though, with her confrontation with the other resistance soldier that was kidnapped. If they were ex-Advent, then I would imagine her disposition towards him would be just as great as it was towards me. Why did anybody think it was a good idea to send her on an escort mission as an ambassador for her people to meet with someone she hates? And more importantly, despite this, she has come and joined up with X-Com afterward, knowing full well we were cooperating with the skirmishers also.

Brick paused from eating her food, noticing me not touching mine. She quickly nodded in my direction, pointing her fork at my plate as she finished her mouthful. "Come on, eat up. I don't want to hang around longer than we have to, in case Goblin decides now is a good time to eat also." She hurried, not taking her eyes off of me until I picked up my own cutlery and began to eat. But the words of Elena never really left me, and just ended up putting more doubts in my mind. She was right, I didn't belong at X-Com, who was I kidding. I'm an Alien. But I'm here now...I'm fighting for what's right, fighting against the oppressors and for the oppressed. But why...

"We should go see Zero after this, he's due to be released either today or tomorrow" Brick started, just after swallowing a mouthful of food. At least she seemed to be improving her manners. "I mean, not released for active duty, but released from the infirmary. He won't be ready for a little bit, by the sounds of it, but he should be well enough to walk around and do stuff"

"Yeah, that would be good. Hopefully, he's well enough to show me how to shoot straight with my rifle" I responded, nodding along in agreement.

"Just don't work yourself up like you did this morning. That was a mess" Brick laughed in response, recalling to my frustration earlier. "It'll be something stupid like moving your hand further up the barrel to steady it or something" She dismissed my concern, placing her cutlery together on the empty tray in front of her. She was only waiting for me now, so I got on with eating, trying to be quicker.

The argument only provoked my own thoughts to eat away at me throughout dinner, leaving me questioning my own motives for joining X-Com. The main one, which I suppressed mostly beforehand, was whether I was doing it for moral reasons, or out of guilt. How much of my willingness to help X-Com was because of the actions of one human that just days earlier I had been hostile to. I'm not sure knowing what Advent did was enough to persuade me to switch sides, in truth, it was probably only enough to make me not want to return to killing in their name. The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence, so I certainly had enough time to let the thoughts fester. I just needed a distraction, and quickly.

* * *

(Sergeant Zero, 10:25 EST 4/22/2035, location: Unknown)

It had been relatively short, but my stay at the infirmary on the ship ended yesterday evening, where the doctor ushered me out of the bed just as Brick and Kassara arrived to see me. They filled me in more on the situation with the Reaper, a resistance soldier that has joined us after a mission to an abandoned city. They told me about the mission, about some mystical being that assaulted our squad, but was defeated. I don't think their descriptions gave much justice however, I only knew to look out for an 'invisible beast', so, no help there. But the Reaper seemed to be causing a few problems on board, taking umbrage towards Kassara, due to her being an Alien. It wasn't what she needed right now, as a new member of the team herself, to be heckled and challenged in front of her fellow squadmates. But Brick had managed to defuse the situation, I guess, though it didn't sound clean.

But now I was making my way to the training rooms on the Avenger, having just woke up an hour ago and headed down for Breakfast quickly, sitting with Samurai and Deadbolt, catching up with them about the events that have recently transpired. Whilst, as usual, Samurai didn't offer much to do with the Reaper, he seemed quite excited to go up against the Assassin, as they called her. Maybe he saw it as a challenge, rather than an immediate threat, but I'm sure the Commander new better. Deadbolt seemed more interested in our new allies, however, praising the armor designs of the Skirmishers, and also giving plenty of compliments to Elena. It seems he got on quite well with her, and already had a nice little rivalry going on about who was the better shot. He also let me know that since I'm back on my feet, and with Elena here as well, he was going to get the party set up for tomorrow, as a means of celebration for us. Though it was on such short notice, I didn't doubt that he would still achieve a good turnout, most people didn't have anything else to really do in the evenings anyway, though each had their own personal pet projects or whatever, no one would turn down an opportunity to hang out with the other soldiers.

Leaving them to finish their food and conversation, I was now waiting near the hull of the ship, I stood with my sniper rifle in hands, steadying the scope down the long range at the small target, lining up the crosshairs and breathing in ever so slightly as I slowly pressed the trigger, the whirring of the gun winding up now an indication to me of when the gun would shoot. I was waiting to meet the Viper, and Brick, here at the range. Kassara asked that I follow up on my offer to help her with her shooting, since she was having difficulty with the sniping, and thought I could help. I'd turned up a little earlier than our arranged time, so I was just practicing in the meantime. Chances are, the weapons that Shen has made for her has the similar time delay in the shot as our magnetic weaponry, so it would probably just be a matter of telling her a simple little trick to correct it.

I must admit, I found it rather irritating that she ended up being a higher rank than me, being given lieutenant almost immediately. I understand that she deserves it, and I'm happy for her, Brick made it sound that she was rising to the task very well, with the amount of time they'd spent training, but it still peeved me off a little, I don't exactly know why, but it did, and I felt petty feeling that way, but I couldn't help it. But she could end up being invaluable to X-Com, besides her knowledge of Advent, more versatility in squad selection would probably bolster our chances of success.

I was halfway through firing another set, when I was interrupted by something tapping my shoulder. I turned around, weapon in hand, to face the source of the interruption, to see the body of a Viper towering over me, wearing hard metal plates whilst holding a weapon that looked similar to the Advent beam rifle that Vipers wielded, having crept up to me without me noticing. I immediately jolted back into the bench in fear of the Viper, almost dropping my weapon in my surprise.

"Zero!?" Brick called from behind Kassara, pushing her way past. "Are you okay?" She asked, fussing over me immediately. She wore a look of concern as she approached, in stark comparison to the confusion shown by the Viper behind her.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine!" I batted her off, waving my hand to dismiss her concerns. It was just a small bump, the pain I could feel from it was negligible.

"You have a back injury, you can't go around bumping yourself like that!" She continued, her hands finding my shoulder to try and comfort me. It was all a little condescending, but I understood where she was coming from.

"Yeah, sorry. I just got scared when I saw Kassara behind me, I didn't even hear you guys come in!" I shrugged off her hand and went over to place my weapon back amongst the other weapons on the wall. "So, what's the issue with the shooting?" I asked Kassara, turning around to face her.

"I'm struggling to use the scope on the weapon. I'm not able to hit the target consistently with it at all, and I'm kind of panicking, because they want me ready by tomorrow, in case anything comes up" She sighed with a slight hiss, presenting her weapon to take. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong, cause I can aim, just not using the sight. Which is kind of important"

"Alright, let me just shoot the weapon a bit to get a feel for it then" I smiled

I took the weapon out of her hands, Brick also peering on in curiosity as I turned the weapon around in my hands. It felt quite heavy, definitely heavier than my rifle, but probably not as heavy as Brick's mag cannon. The stock was rounded at the back, and the glow of the body of the rifle was obvious now that it came from the plasma inside. The barrel itself, apart from the circular rings, seemed to have two prongs that extended out to the front, rather than an enclosed barrel like my rifle. They must focus the beam for when it's being shot. I stepped up to one of the shorter ranges to try the weapon out first, I must admit, I was kind of excited to try it out, it looked pretty awesome to me, and the idea that a weapon could change between automatic fire and high caliber fire was pretty enticing. Aiming at the target in front of me, I tiled the gun by 45 degrees, aiming using the red dot sight on the side, as I fired the weapon. A rapid burst of round fired out of the barrel, green lights flashing in my face, quickly firing down the range, the entire spread hitting the target, not that it was exactly far away, but the lack of recoil on the gun to achieve a spread like that was amazing. I knew I was bad at controlling recoil usually; I don't fire any automatic weaponry, save for my assault rifle when I was a rookie, so the fact I was able to control it here was a testament to the gun's design. I continued to fire the rest of the rounds at the target, enjoying the feeling of the weapon in my hands, despite its weight.

"The automatic mode seems really good" I commented at the end, shaking my head in surprise as I turned back around to face them. I gave the weapon back to Kassara to reload for me, which she did very quickly, again, showing how much she had been practicing recently with it. "Shen's done a fantastic job on it"

"I know, I'm getting used to it slowly, it seems very versatile. I suppose I will have to see how it performs when I'm on the field, but it's just the sniping side of it that I need help with" She commented, handing the rifle back into my hands.

I approached the long range this time, positioning my feet in line with each other, as I brought the weapon up towards my eye, flipping the switch on the side of the barrel, resulting in a slight whirring noise within the body of the gun, as the light glow from within extended out of the body, and into the barrel, travelling along the two-pronged extensions until it came to a rest between the tips at the end, the plasma seemingly held in place by their presence, floating around in air rather hypnotically. I gave out a small whistle of satisfaction on the effect, before I leveled my eye with the lens, when I realized a huge problem.

 _I couldn't see the target because it was distorted and blurred._

I inwardly cursed, as I pulled the weapon way for a second, trying to figure out how I was going to do this. My eye wasn't the same as a viper's eyes, apparently, so there's no telling whether my aim would allow me to even hit the target. I put the gun back to my face, resting my cheek on the bit of the gun between the stock and the main body, and tried my best to find the target in the scopes, before slowly depressing the trigger. I heard no whirring sound in my ear, save for the noise already being made by the plasma, but there was a small point, at which the trigger clicked, and immediately, a beam shot from the weapon, with barely any travel time, firing along the range, illuminating all the walls for the brief half a second that it was in existence for. The beam did manage to strike the target, however, in the middle, just off center, the plasma burn not really visible from where I was standing, but the smoke coming from the target was definitely identifiable.

"Wow..." I exclaimed, just looking at the weapon I held in my hands in awe. "This is awesome stuff, Shen really outside herself on this one" I credited, leaving it on the table as I moved away to allow Kassara to shoot instead. She slithered up to the bench, taking the weapon into her hands, fluidly positioning herself, coiling her body up slightly, probably to remain as steady as possible, raising the weapon to eye level and tucking the weapon into her shoulder, as she fired off three rounds, with small pauses between each of them, steadying herself each time she did so. Two of the rounds hit the target, and not very precisely, whilst the third round missed altogether. She quickly reloaded the weapon again and set it back down on the bench, before turning around to me with a bit of a 'see?' expression on her face, though it was a little difficult to tell. Brick just stood at the back, watching us as we were shooting. I caught her giving off a yawn, trying to suppress it as she caught me looking.

"I don't even know what I'm doing wrong. I can shoot it more accurately without the sights, I swear" She stropped, folding her arms across her chest.

"Alright, well, do it more slowly here, so I can see what you're doing" I suggested, moving up beside her at the bench. She again took the rifle in her hands and began to aim down the range. "Ok, only fire when I tell you to" I ordered, taking note of her hand's placement, trying to figure out her breathing, or if she was squeezing down on the trigger to fast, anything.

"Alright..." I started, on her right side, watching her finger and breathing as she held the weapon. "Fire"

On my command, the beam fired down the range, causing me to shut my eyes reflexively, but I had kept the open long enough to see her firing technique. The trigger was not snatched at, and she had managed her breathing well, she wasn't swaying, but the weapon barrel did sway slightly, and I had to figure out why.

"Again" I ordered, and she repeated her shot, before waiting for me to tell her when to next shoot. "Once more," I said slowly, looking at her technique the best I could as she shot.

That's when I spotted it, almost out of the corner of my eye, but it was obvious that that was what was happening to cause her shots to be firing wide. I brought the target closer to us on the winch system, looking at where the shots had placed. None of them had really hit the center, of her previous shots or the three new ones, but at least the last three were all on target. As she had shot her final round, I had noticed why she was moving the barrel, it wasn't because she was unstable, but because she was correcting for where her eye was. Her head wasn't resting on the gun at all, but she tried keeping it still in the air, like you would an automatic weapon, or maybe the rifles she used for Advent. It was something that I'm glad I spotted when I did, because it isn't' particular noticeable, with how she held her head.

"I think I found what the problem is" I announced happily, taking the gun back off of her to show her. She seemed to light up a little bit, eagerly waiting for me to continue. "When you shoot, you need to rest your head on the gun, to keep it steady. Your eye is moving around so much you just can't keep it steady"

"Really? That's not how I learned to shoot a gun" She resisted, doubting my advice immediately. "Plus Vipers have very good balance, and we don't sway around much either, so there's no reason for that to be the case"

"Look, just try it Kassara" Brick interjected, preventing me from lecturing her on why it was the case.

I proceeded to stand to the left of Kassara, lining up the rifle down the range, showing her directly where my head was resting, so that my eye could look down the scope, before giving her the gun to try the same thing. Thanks to the Viper's anatomy, she had to crane her neck a little to put it into a similar position, adjusting it slightly so that she could see down the sights.

"Should I try shooting now?" She asked, peeling her head away from the gun to look at me. I nodded in response and watched as she went through a similar routine, coiling in on herself, steadying her body and breathing, and pulling the weapon into her shoulder, before laying her head against the gun. She fired her next four shots on the new target, the smoke resulting from the plasma rounds all seeming to come from the target.

"I...can't believe it..." She whispered, looking at the gun as if it had done something wrong. "Why was that all it took?"

"It's always something stupid" I beamed at her, remembering back to my problems first using my magnetic sniper rifle. I brought the target back to the front again, all four shots were on target, three near the center of the chest, and one in the head. At least that meant that her aim was good. She shook her head in disdain, however, with one hand rubbing against her forehead.

"It feels so stupid though" She moaned. "I'm so embarrassed that all it took was for me to literally just lower my head. You don't understand just how many hours I wasted here just firing away trying to figure out what in the Elder's name I was...sorry, I mean, what I was even doing wrong" She hesitated, as Brick broke into a nice, hearty chuckle at Kassara's expense.

"Old habits die hard, right?" Brick laughed. I could see the Viper getting slightly flustered due to it, her eyes restless as the darted between the floor, Brick, and me.

"What does that even mean?" She asked back, more timidly than she had been speaking just a moment ago.

"Well, it's like when you have a habit that you're used to, it's difficult to get out of that habit. Like Zero, for instance, always used to have a habit of picking his nails. Still does, just not as much" Brick explained, using me as an example.

"Hey, do you mind?" I jokingly retorted to Brick, arms crossed over my chest in mock annoyance. It was something I hadn't really taken notice of doing myself until Brick pointed it out when I first arrived on the Avenger, but I had actively tried to stop it.

"Oh, I see..." Kassara mumbled, now holding her gun limply by her side. The barrel was no longer a bright green glowing mess of plasma, indicating she had turned it back to the automatic firing mode. "Well, this is great news, regardless. I suppose I just need to spend the rest of today training, so I can be ready for the Commander" She said, ending her sentence with a smile, finally back on her face. It was interesting to see how upset she got with herself when she thought she was doing something wrong, for sure, but she seemed to have picked up from her mood just as quickly as she got into it. I continued to watch her shoot for a long while, chatting with Brick in the meantime, watching Kassara's dedication to her new role. I could imagine that she used it as something to do, there wasn't really much to do around here except train or socialize. I gave the Viper a couple of tips on where she should improve her sniping, not that she took the advice perfectly, but she seemed to take it on board, but there wasn't much else to correct, it was then just a matter of individual ability. I decided to call it a day, once I had become a little restless, and Brick was back to dropping her gun into the conversation again.

"Well, I'm glad I could help, but I should probably head off then, if it's all sorted," I finalized, beginning to turn around to leave the room, but stopped just as I had started. "Oh, by the way, Deadbolt's gonna be organizing a little party for tomorrow evening, if nothing comes up. You should come along as well, really, you're part of the team now" I suggested to Kassara.

"Really, that's tomorrow?" Brick interrupted. "Crap, I didn't even realize. Has he even told anyone yet?"

"Just a few, I think he's hoping word will just spread, really" I shrugged

"Thanks, Zero, I would like to come, but are you sure everyone will be happy with me there?" She questioned, the very slight worried look returning to her face.

"Well...no, especially if Goblin comes. But you don't have to talk to him or anything, just hang around with us and talk to others, it's not a big deal, you really should come" I insisted

"If you say so then. Listen, really, thanks for the help. You've saved me a lot of hassle...I just wish it was sorted earlier. I'll see you later" She smiled as she said her goodbyes.

"Yeah, catch you tomorrow, Zero" Brick waved as I waved back, leaving Brick to keep watch over Kassara as she continued to fire away at the range. I didn't envy her, that's for sure, I think that was about the maximum length of time I could spend watching someone shoot endlessly before I would ask to leave.

* * *

(Sergeant Zero, 21:32 EST 4/22/2035, location: Unknown)

I was excited to go to the party tonight, it had been a while since I had just sat down and enjoyed myself be with others from X-Com. That, and a drink would be rather nice at this point in time, as a sort of celebration for getting back to full health. Vandal, Deadbolt and Samurai had headed off slightly earlier, since Deadbolt wanted to make sure everything was ready for when everyone arrived, and I was just finishing getting ready, having just stepped out of the shower and looking at the pile of tracksuits and plain tees that populated my insignificant pile of clothes under my bed. I, thankfully, had one pair of jeans to wear, and a nice casual burgundy shirt to go with it, with short sleeves, buttons, and a collar.

I left my dorm, in no real rush to get there, and so took my time ambling along the corridors up towards the rec room. The last time they had a small party here on the Avenger was not long after I joined, which was fairly lax, and not many people ended up drinking too much, but a lot of people were just getting to know each other, playing pool, table tennis, or just listening to whatever music was playing at the time. I didn't drink anything more than a beer that night, I was too nervous to integrate myself properly, as I was still new, but I enjoyed the small amount of time I spent mingling with others. I suppose that's why Deadbolt wanted to throw this now, as a way to get Kassara and Elena to properly talk to others onboard the Avenger. And I suppose to allow Venom to get back into the swing of things, since he managed to persuade the Doctor that he was fine to go out and about just for one night. With the new medicine brought back, it wasn't looking to be long at all before he could go back onto the roster for active duty.

As I approached the door to the rec room, I could feel the baseline of the music sending vibrations up my feet, growing stronger and stronger the closer I got the closed door. Even with the music slightly muffled, I could tell it was some old sort of pop music, maybe from 10 years ago? It sounded somewhat familiar, regardless. I took a breath, put on a confident smile, before I opened the door, letting the noise escape the room, as I entered into the party. I had thought that I had arrived somewhat early, but the sight I saw before me disproved that, most of X-Com must have been in this room, save for the staff, of course. Several of the tables were all occupied by soldiers, groups also standing around, chatting, having a drink, the music not so loud as to drown out their voices. The jukebox near the back of the room also had a small queue gathering, obviously wanting to choose what was played next, from the limited amount there was present, and the bar was full of people waiting to be served, and one poor man behind it trying to keep up with the orders.

"Hey, Zero!" A call came out from the room, only just hearable over the music. It took me a little bit of searching, but with the air of a hand being shot up into the air, I saw Vandal trying to beckon me over to a table, with Deadbolt and the Reaper sat with him. I held up a hand to signify that I was just going to be a second, as I headed straight to the bar to pick up a drink, pushing my way past a couple of groups of soldiers chatting. At the bar, I found myself standing in a haphazard sort of line to be served, though it was more of a push to the front to get served. But the person stood in front of me was instantly someone I recognized.

"Hey, Venom!" I called out over the music, tapping him on the shoulder at the same time. Venom whipped around, grinning at me as soon as he saw me, a full cup of alcohol in his hand.

"Evening, Zero" He nodded. "It's good to be out of the infirmary, isn't it? I almost forgot how to use my legs, I swear!" He laughed "It's great to see everybody again, really, I can't wait to get back out there with everyone. How're your injuries looking, anyway?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I teased, earning a raised eyebrow from him before I continued. "The wounds are healing, just a couple of scars that I'm sure will fade with time on my back. But I've bruised my chest or something, so I'm not back on active duty yet" I explained.

"Shame, that. You should swallow some of the medigel, I'm sure that'll help" He joked, saying it almost completely deadpan. I gave a small chuckle in response to the imagery, I'm sure the stuff would have tasted rancid anyway.

"Hey, were you ordering anything?" The bartender called out to me, interrupting my conversation with Venom. "I don't have time to wait around"

"Ah right, sorry. I'll see you around Venom" I smiled, making my way past him, trying to avoid knocking the cup out of his hands. He quickly waved me goodbye and headed off, as I ordered a beer from the Bartender, who I'm fairly sure was one of the engineers here on the ship otherwise. While they had a bunch of spirits and other drinks on offer, a few cocktails even, I decided to not go too hard tonight, and stick with the lighter stuff. That is, unless I manage to get dragged into any drinking games.

I quickly headed back to the table where Vandal was sat, settling down next to him as he was chatting to the Reaper. She mostly went by the name Elena, the need for secrecy of her name obviously not as needed, despite already having a callsign: Nightwalker. Certainly, the callsign fit in with the whole 'edgy' get up she was using, but it worked for her, that's for sure. Deadbolt broke their conversation as I sat down, interrupting Vandal as he did so.

"Hey man, You've met Elena right?" He greeted.

"I've not had the opportunity to in person yet" I responded, turning towards her now. Whilst I had seen her with the whole hood-over-head with the mask on, at least when talking to us she had removed the mask and put her hood down, thankfully. She had short brown hair which she gelled up on top of her head, and matching eyes, set in a very determined and confident expression.

"Zero" She nodded. "Deadbolt's been running his mouth about who's the better shot out of us two. He tells me you are also a Sniper, so maybe you'd like to throw your hat into the ring?"

I chuckled at the offer, thinking it was a friendly jab at my specialization, but her expression didn't say that she was joking. "I think I'll pass. My aim's not as good as Deadbolt's, so I'm sure it's nowhere near as good as yours" I conceded. She turned her grin towards Deadbolt due to my response, who looked slightly downtrodden by how I had phrased my sentence, grimacing slightly.

"Where's your support for a fellow Sniper, Zero?" He complained jokingly, taking a drink from his cup. It looked like it was a soft drink mixed with a spirit of some kind, though I could only really guess at it. "I kid, of course. But I'd still like to contest your claim of being the best at aiming."

"Hey, Elena?" I started, drawing her attention away from the miniature argument against Deadbolt towards me. "How come if your aim is so good, your people aren't Snipers, but instead stick to the shadows?"

"When the enemy outnumbers you so badly, you need another thing working on your side to win. Our ability to keep ourselves concealed allows us to survive through unfavorable odds. Our good aim ensures that what we do works" She explained proudly. "Though I must give it to X-Com, their strength lies in tactics and positioning. With a Commander like that, willing to take risks to ensure victory, that's something I can respect. I mean, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have joined up."

"Well, glad you did decide to join us, lord knows we need all the help we can get. Plus having someone to put Deadbolt in his place is rather refreshing" Venom chipped in, as Deadbolt raised his middle finger to his compatriot. Earning a laugh from Elena. The way she spoke, the way she held herself, it was all very confident and charismatic, and she seemed to readily get along with a few soldiers. Well, except the Viper, apparently.

And as if on cue, the door opened, I could see it from where I was sat, as Brick and Kassara entered with Firehawk and Echo, the Viper towering over Echo. I saw Elena track my gaze as I stared at them enter, her face turning to one of anger as soon as she saw Kassara.

"What is this..." She spat, as she stood up from the table, turning around to face the Viper, who locked eyes with the Reaper before ducking away, shielding herself from her glare. "What is the meaning of this! Who invited a fucking Viper!?" She shouted, her voice hoarse and dominant, drowning out the music and grabbing the attention of just about everybody in the room. She brought the cup in her hand to her mouth, chugging whatever was in there, before slamming it onto the table audibly. I found myself wondering how much had she exactly had to drink before this?

"I invited her here, she's allowed to come?" I answered her, much more timidly than she was addressing the room. "It's a party for me, anyway" I saw her turn around to me with such a look of disdain it scared me. Deadbolt interjected quickly and quietly as soon as I had spoken.

"Um...Zero...This is just a gathering. It's not _for_ you, in particular..." He explained, causing me to shrink into my seat in embarrassment. What the hell did I just say? That must have sounded so conceited.

"I refuse to take part in an event if this Alien is invited. The last thing I want is a puppet of the Elders in amongst resistance fighters!" She shouted angrily, people parting to avoid conflict as she stared down Kassara from the other side of the room. I tried to recompose myself to stick up for Kassara. It was the least I could do, given how much she had done for me.

"Hey, is there a need for that? She's X-Com as well, she can come enjoy herself" I shrugged, trying to calm the situation. Somebody had paused the music, leaving just an awkward silence between the two females.

"'She' is not X-Com, she's an Alien. The fact you'd let one aboard your ship, let alone in the same room as yourself is beyond my comprehension" She scoffed, not even turning to look at me, her hands balled into fists.

"Kassara is as X-Com as you or me."

"And you want to risk your life with that?"

"Yes, she has saved me already once, she has more than earned her right to be here. If you don't like her just ignore her" I looked towards the group that had come in. Echo and Firehawk stood slightly to the side, not wanting a part in the argument, whilst Brick gritted her teeth angrily, clearly trying to hold back from shouting Elena down.

"You are making a mistake. All of you. I'm not going to sit here and ignore the very imminent threat to your entire project. Anybody is free to join me elsewhere, I'll stay out of your way, Zero, don't worry" She hissed, leaving her cup on the table as she started moving out of the room, her cape flowing behind her slightly. As she called everyone who agreed with her to her side, I saw several soldiers remove themselves from their groups, as they followed the Reaper down the sea of soldiers that had parted for her. Samurai, one of the female rookies, Angel, and a few others all formed part of the queue leading out of the room. I caught just a glimpse of the death glare that Elena was shooting at Kassara, as she shouldered her way past Kassara, past Brick, as they left the room.

The awkward break in noise was soon fixed, as the music quickly started back up, and people slowly resumed. Most soldiers had stayed here, which was a relief, to be honest, but it was a shame to see a few people I know head off with the Reaper.

"I...should probably head off. Make sure she doesn't kill anyone" Deadbolt sighed, standing up and taking his leave from Vandal and me, heading out the door after Elena. Vandal just looked on with a slight grimace, his hands supporting his head from falling onto the table.

"Well...that could have gone worse, right?" He sighed, rubbing his hands down his face, before he stood up from his seat himself. "Hey, who wants to play some ring of fire?" He asked to the room, whipping out a pack of cards from his pocket as he did so. Several soldiers started to come over to our table, each bringing several drinks to the table, and one bringing a larger glass, almost like a vase, to be honest.

"Hey, Kassara, you joining in?" Vandal asked to her, as she stayed near the back as Brick, Echo, and Firehawk all sat down around the table. She looked quite timid and worried from where I was sat, but she seemed interested none the less.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara' Unit 19201648, 21:43 EST 4/22/2035, location: Unknown)

"Is it a card game?" I asked, crossing my hands over my armor, covering the sigil on the front. He had piqued my interest when he drew the pack of playing cards from his pocket, though I had only played a few, I quite liked the card games I had played so far.

"Well...yes, yes it is. Come on, I'll show you how to play." Vandal grinned. "Someone get another drink for Kassara!"

I took a seat on the table next to him, several soldiers at the table, including the three I had entered with, and Zero. The new male rookie was also joining in, whilst the one that had been frightened by my first appearance in our dorm room stayed at the side, watching. I don't know what I had particularly done against Elena, but she seemed completely unable to accept the fact that I was fighting for X-Com. It hurt to see everybody walk out on those terms that she gave, I thought more would have not thought that way. I suppose it was a bit of a wake-up call to the reality that X-Com soldiers hate Aliens.

The pungent smell I had noticed in my time here before had become a lot stronger, to the point where I could now tell it was in the stuff that they were drinking. I had never known of any liquid that was consumed that smelled this way, but they must have liked it. As Vandal had asked, a cup containing a murky brown liquid was placed in front of me, fizzling and bubbling away. I brought it closer to me, my tongue testing the air around the surface of the liquid, to try and smell my beverage. I immediately recoiled away from the drink, almost spilling it as I did so, earning a giggle from Brick, pointing in my direction as she did so. I shook my head, trying to relieve myself from the smell, as I tried to taste it a little.

Whilst it wasn't tasteless, I can't say I quite liked the taste very much. It was bitter, almost, with a very...I don't know how to describe it, yeasty? But with the sour taste, a slight burning along my mouth and in my throat accompanied it. I again found myself pushing the drink away in disgust, flicking out my tongue in a desperate attempt to rid some of the flavor. How could these people enjoy drinking this?

"Don't like it, huh?" Echo asked, sitting opposite me. "Don't blame you. For me, it gets a lot better after a couple of drink. Though, after a couple of drinks, I'm not exactly focusing on the taste" She smiled, a very faint, concealed smile, but it was there none the less.

"What do you mean?" I asked, her last statement doing little other than give me more questions.

"Well, I'm Asian, come on. It doesn't take much to get me drunk" She shook her head slightly.

"Drunk?" I again asked

"You've not been drunk before? There must not be any alcohol around under Advent rule then. That or you're a bit of a stiff, which is understandable at least" She jabbed, picking up her own drink. "You get a little dizzy, and your thoughts stop being quite so...contricted. At least, that's when you're tipsy. You keep drinking, and you'll find yourself in a blurry mess of a world, but it makes you feel good. Adds confidence, I guess" She explained, drinking some of her drink. I could imagine it being banned under the Advent coalition, there's no way that they would allow disorientated people with loose lips be legal. While it scared me a little that all these soldiers were effectively drugging themselves, nobody seemed to have an issue with it. I suppose I should try drinking, until I either start liking the drink, or until I get into this 'tipsy' stage that Echo described, but then I'd have to stop.

Vandal laid out all of the cards in a circle around the large glass in the center of the table, seemingly shuffled otherwise, and quickly explained the game, and how it worked. You went around in a circle, each taking a card from the center, and depending on which card you drew, a different 'punishment' was given, all of which was drinking a varying amount of your own drink, or getting someone else to drink theirs. But on each king to be drawn, everyone added some of their drink to the middle, and the person who drew the fourth king had to drink it all. I can tell this game was designed to get at least one person very drunk.

As the game went around the table, with each person picking up different cards, I kept having to drink more of my drink, yet the taste was not really improving much, but at least I was starting to get used to it. At least I wasn't the one drinking the most already, Brick had already gone through most of her second drink, due to her having to drink whenever someone else did, as well as on her own. I mostly paid attention to the game itself, whilst the soldiers laughed and talked during the game, accusing each other of not drinking enough, or not drinking quickly enough, all in a little bit of jest. On my next turn, I drew a Jack from the pile, and immediately 'oohs' erupted from around the table as everyone looked towards me.

"Sorry, but what does this do?" I asked innocently, not remembering from the beginning of the game, when Vandal had explained all the cards.

"You get to make a rule up" Brick beamed "And then you have to punish everyone who doesn't follow it, then they have to drink"

That did sound like quite a lot of power, if I made a good rule up, at least. I thought for a few seconds, trying to pick between two different rules I had in my head, as to which would result in more people having to drink, or would just be, in my opinion, funny.

"Alright...Everyone from now on has to speak like Brick" I ordered, receiving a few giggles from around the table.

"You're making everyone speak with a Scottish accent?" Brick asked, grinning from ear to ear, as she thickened her accent deliberately, going from a just noticeable accent to painstakingly obvious slur. "I'll accept your rule, Viper!"

"That isn't fair, I can't do accents at all" Echo immediately complained. In response, Zero simply leaned over the table slightly, pointing towards her drink.

"Drink up, lass!" He laughed, his accent a comically thick version of the accent Brick had, yet it sounded nowhere near. Brick simply shook her head in response.

"I'm not sure whether to laugh or be offended by your attempt, Zero" She sighed, drinking more from her cup, before getting up. "I'm just getting another one, I'll fetch you one too, Kassara"

We continued playing, but unfortunately, I didn't get to punish many people, apart from Echo, because they were all remembering to do the accent, but it sounded hilarious. Only a couple could imitate the accent well at all, and most people butchered it. I, of course, had to follow my own rule, and I am very fortunate to say that I was not the worst at the table. That one went to Vandal. But I wasn't far off of him either. I kept drinking more of the liquid, I must have had four or five cups by now, and I was starting to get a taste for the sour stuff, the burning at the back of my throat slowly became more pleasurable, and the aftertaste tickled my taste in a good way, but the drink overall, was still fairly rancid. But after about an hour of playing, the fourth king was finally drawn, the pleasure of downing the mix of the different alcohols in the middle went to the male rookie, who beforehand had been acting quite boisterously and loud, now suddenly went dead silent, as everyone laughed at his expense, returning to their normal speech, now they didn't have to imitate Brick.

"Hey, Kassara, how you holding your drink?" Firehawk asked, patting me on the shoulder to get my attention. Her words weren't entirely crisp, the same as others I had just been talking to on the table. I suppose that's what being tipsy was, at least.

"I'm feeling okay. Maybe Vipers just have a natural resistance to whatever is in the drink" I shrugged, as I got up from the table. I didn't like being sat down too long anyway. The party seemed to have livened back up more, the music louder, constant hollering or shouting from one group or another, with several games being played around the room.

"Huh...maybe..." She replied blankly. "I suppose that means I should just get you another drink though. What do you want? Beer? Wine? Have you tried the spirits yet?" She listed

"Spirits sounds interesting" I replied, interested to see what they were. Firehawk simply raised an eyebrow as she let her blue hair fall over her other eye.

"Sure thing. I'll get you something," She grinned. She disappeared in the direction of the bar, returning a minute later with two cups of a fizzing black liquid. "Here, Vodka and coke! Enjoy" She smiled, handing me one of the cup sand raising hers towards me. I tapped her cup with mine, in a similar fashion to what I had seen from others over the evening, as she proceeded to tilt her head back, gulping down the contents of what was in the cup. I shuddered at the thought of doing it, as I approached slowly again. This liquid had a slightly more distinct smell from it, almost smelled like an antiseptic. But when I tasted it, I was surprised by a sweet taste, rather than a bitter one, before the familiar burning came to my throat...and kept coming, and kept burning. This stuff was definitely stronger than the beer. I started coughing from the liquid, trying my best not to spill anything as I did so, Firehawk laughing at me briefly as I choked back the alcohol.

It was starting to get late into the evening, some people had dropped out, but most of the soldiers were still drinking, still noisy, and stumbling around like fools. I don't understand how the alcohol can affect them so badly. I had been drinking more of the Vodka drink, mixed with others, for the evening, but I only felt a little light headed at the moment. It wasn't causing me to slur any words, or to slow my speech at all, like I had seen from the others, but I could slightly tell the difference. I think Brick picked up on the fact that I was still sober, and quickly pulled me over towards a bench set up with 6 glasses either side, each filled up with a small amount of clear liquid, about quarter of the way up

"What's happening?" I asked, still somewhat recovering from suddenly being grabbed by the arm and pulled with such force.

"I'm not drunk enough yet, and neither are you, Viper" Brick grinned, her accent thick and her words slightly slurred, she was definitely getting past tipsy, but I swear she had had more to drink than most people here, yet seemed to be in a better condition than them. "So we're gonna play a little game of beer pong. You and Zero, take on me and Echo"

"You're gonna have to explain the rules, I have no idea how to play" I sighed, as Brick pushed me over to the side of the bench Zero was standing at. He gave me a short wave and a smile I couldn't help but grin back at. He seemed a little wobbly, and I could tell he was struggling to focus slightly on things, but he seemed alert and orientated, mostly.

"It's alright, it's easy. There's a ping-pong ball, and we just throw it into the opponent's cups. It lands in it, you drink it. We start, you know, ladies first and all that."

"But I'm also female, Brick" I complained

"Ah, yes, but it's 2 versus 1. Sorry" She winked, as she handed the ball to Echo, who was looking rather red at the moment. I couldn't help but notice the height difference between them yet again.

"How are you doing, Kass?" Zero greeted, as our opponents took their place at the other side of the table. "Hope you haven't had too much to drink"

"I'm actually fine. You humans must have a weakness to alcohol, or I'm very resistant to it, at least. Are you still doing okay?" I asked, slightly worried he was having to much to drink. Within a moment, he seemed to steady himself briefly, his actions less haphazard, and more normal, as his slur almost left his voice.

"I'm a little drunk, but I'm okay. I can sort of focus, and stop being drunk for a bit, though" He grinned. He held himself with so much more confidence than he normally did, I don't know how I could tell, but it was noticeable. Brick laughed from the other side of the table in response to his comment, holding her side slightly.

"That's the biggest piece of bullshit I've heard, you pansy. Let's go!" She shouted, as Echo threw the ball at the table, watching it bounce in the middle, and then towards our cups. It hit the lip of one of the cups, narrowly missing. Zero caught the ball before it could roll off; at least he still had some hand-eye coordination going for him. He grabbed the ball, and launched it towards theirs, not even bouncing it in the middle, and it landed straight into the first cup, causing Echo to roll her eyes, as she picked up the cup, giving the ball to Brick, and then chugging the contents of the cup, slamming it down on the table afterwards as her face distorted and scrunched up from the alcohol.

"Nice shot" I congratulated to Zero, who gave a smirk back in my direction, which was quickly knocked off as Brick found one of our cups. Zero reached for the cup, taking the first hit, as he handed the ball to me. I didn't think about the shot too much and just threw the ball in the general direction of the rest of the cups, but unfortunately, it wasn't really anywhere near. Echo grabbed the ball, again throwing it into our cups, this time finding it. I grabbed the cup, again flicking my tongue out to pre-taste the drink. It smelled the same as the Vodka and coke, but it was completely clear. I quickly chugged back the contents in a similar manner, the familiar burning sensation again excruciating at the back of my throat. This tasted as if it was pure alcohol, it was really strong!

"What even is this?" I asked Zero, spluttering through the drink.

"A shot of Vodka. And a rather generous one at that, even by Brick's standards" He replied, returning to the game. I found it a little odd that they named a measurement after an act of war, being shooting, of course. Funnily enough, their next throw also found one of our cups, causing Zero to reach out to take that cup.

"Hey, I can drink it if you want? I'm certainly doing a bit better in terms of not falling over than you are" I offered, as he took his cup, pausing briefly, before continuing to drink it.

"If you want the rest, then it's all yours. But I want to at least contribute a little" He commented. Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck for the rest of the game, as we kept missing, only hitting two more of their cups, whilst they only missed once on ours, meaning I had to drink the remaining three 'shots' left on the table. Brick and Echo laughed, high fiving each other in a slightly sloppy fashion, before they split up the remaining drinks, giving me and Zero another one each to drink. I could definitely feel the alcohol start to hit me now, I could feel a slight fuzziness as I moved around, looking from left to right, my vision wasn't crisp, but I was still in control of my actions well.

The evening continued, it was getting late and more and more people were dropping off from the party, heading back to their dorm rooms, leaving a select few soldiers, along with Brick, Zero, and Echo. The music had been lowered, and softer music with a much more relaxed tone was being played, and the bar was closed, so no more alcohol. I hate to admit it, but I had succumbed to the alcohol quite badly. While after the beer pong game it was still manageable, despite having nothing else to drink for the rest of the evening, I could feel my coordination slowly slipping away from me, as I stumbled every now and again, and my tail kept going where I didn't want it to go, and my vision never seemed to stay focused. To say I was a little ashamed would be an understatement, as Brick quickly picked up on my drunkedness, even though I told her I wasn't drunk, and I thought I was hiding it well anyway, but she saw through it. But since the start of the party, I had spoken to a bunch of the other soldiers who had come along, though I don't remember a few of the conversations we had, there were a few interesting ones, and I think overall I did well in leaving a decent impression on them, or at least one that I was not going to bite, and that I was actually in this for them. Maybe.

But now it was late, and Brick and Echo were sat on their own, Brick leaning against the wall, whilst Echo had her head buried in her arms, both just enjoying a conversation with each other, not that I knew what it was about. Zero had been speaking with some of the others with me, where he had pointed out multiple times, to my annoyance, that I was starting to hiss my 's's again, like I did when I was first here as a captive. I let him know pretty quickly that I didn't appreciate him referring to when I was a captive here, but he seemed to pay no heed to me. Maybe normally I would have been more annoyed, but I felt too warm and fuzzy to let it get to me. Same as to the comments that Reaper bitch made earlier, I couldn't care less about them. They were just words, after all. But today was almost over, and more people headed for the exit to call it a night

"Hey, thanks for the evening guys, I'm gonna head off to bed" Zero called out to the rest of the soldiers there, including the other female rookie from my dorm, and a few other soldiers, along with Brick and Echo.

"Alright, night Zero. Hey, could you take the Viper back to our dorm? I'm staying here for a bit longer" Brick responded, calling me again by my species. She had been referring to me as Viper all evening since she got a little drunk, I wasn't sure whether it was because she forgot my new name or whatever, but I understood how much it meant for me to have my own name now. It was a separate identity, and a much better alternative to being called 'Viper' or 'Snake'. But I wasn't going to take umbrage against it, that would have been stupid.

"Isn't she supposed to stay with you?"

"Well, yeah, but she'll just be going back to her dorm, I don't need to accompany her in there, necessarily. It doesn't really matter, I'll be there soon" She persuaded poorly, but it seemed to be enough to convince the drunk Sniper.

"Fine. Alright, you coming, Kassara?" He asked, holding the door open for me. I thought about complaining about basically being forced to leave, but I don't think it would actually get me anywhere at all, so I reluctantly headed out towards the door, wobbling and swaying a couple of times as I went over, almost managing to go straight into the wall instead of through the door, causing an eruption of laughter behind me, obviously from Brick.

"You really have had too much haven't you?" Zero asked, a grin splitting across his face as well. He began to walk along the corridor, as I followed him, struggling to keep pace, as I was focusing too much on trying to keep my balance, to maintain a little dignity. He stopped, turning back around to face me as I ambled towards him. "Do you need a hand? Here, lean on me" He offered, walking back towards me and grabbing my arm by the wrist. I firstly pulled away from him, but he held on, and placed my arm around his shoulder. Though this, in itself, did little, I realized I could lower myself slightly and use him to keep me up.

We made a little progress down the hallway, but I must have kept leaning into him too much, because we toppled over into one of the walls, Zero managing to avoid me falling onto him somehow, as he lay giggling on the floor, his contagious laughter spreading quickly, causing me to smile back, as I clambered back up. Maybe it would be better for me to just use the wall again.

"Sorry, I forgot how heavy you are..." He explained, once he had finished laughing on the floor.

"Rude. I could take offense at that" I groggily joked. The warm fuzzy feeling was still there in my head, but I was starting to feel a little sick, probably due to the movement, which was making me feel nauseous.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" He immediately fussed, completely missing the joke, causing me to laugh slightly this time. "I didn't mean anything by it, I swear" He apologized, as we continued towards my room. How long did it take to get there?

"I was joking, Zero" I smirked at him, I could make out the relief on his face, just, as he recovered to keep pace with me. We reached the door that led to my room, as Zero walked over to it shakily, opening it for me again.

"I get that I'm a higher rank than you, Zero, but you don't have to hold open every single door for your superior" I again joked, as I headed through the door. Zero immediately pouted at me, the stupid, messy grin being removed instantly from his face.

"I'm not doing it because you're now a lieutenant. Which, for the record, is completely unfair to me" He complained, closing the door behind him. The room was empty, no sign of the two female rookies that would otherwise be sleeping in here. I made my way across to my side of the room as I continued talking to Zero, causing him to follow me.

"Sorry, Zero, a poor joke" I sighed, irritated at myself for annoying him. "But I agree. You've done a lot more for X-Com...for me...than I have for X-Com or you," I sat down on my bed, as Zero stood, arms folded, in the middle of the room, my chest weighing me down, I felt like I needed to get it off of my chest. I paused, trying to search for the right words within my head. "Zero, I...I don't think I've seriously had the chance to properly thank you, for everything. For showing me past my beliefs that had been drilled into relentlessly, to the point where I was blinded to everything that happened around me. I decided when I was in captivity, that even if I made it out, I was never going back. I couldn't bring myself to consider it an option" I folded my arms, avoiding his gaze as I felt my open heart begin to weep, leaking more and more feelings I held close and personal to him.

"You did so selflessly, as well. You gave me food, and cared for me, entertained me, without me even asking, without me questioning why, or giving a single shit why. I didn't even know what you were doing for me, I only realized too late, and it eats at me how I could treat you with such contempt when you were protecting me from those who would wish me harm. I feel like you saw me...saw me not as an Alien, or something that had no mind, and was completely brainwashed and just wanted to kill you. You treated me like a human...like ..." I drifted off, staling a glance at Zero, seeing him approach closer, concern on his face, as he gazed down over me. I put my head in my hands, shielding my eyes away from him so I could continue talking, continue trying to explain myself to my captor, my colleague...my friend.

* * *

(Sergeant Zero, 01:02 EST 4/23/2035, location: Unknown)

I looked down abashedly at the Viper sat on her bed, spilling out her feelings to me, opening herself up. I didn't know how to respond, I don't think I could come up with any words at the moment that would help the situation, so I let her continue to speak. I could tell how taxing this was for her, even with her hissed 's's and her slurring of certain words, her slumped body posture was enough to paint the picture for me.

"By the Elders...you looked after me, cared for me, without my knowledge of you even doing so. You fed me, entertained me...all whilst I treated you like crap, acting hostile even through your best attempts to be nice" She whimpered, removing her hands from her face, revealing the tears welling up in her eyes, a single bead of water dropping from her eye, rolling slowly in between the grooves of her scales down her face, until it reached her mouth.

"And I threw it all back into your face, all of it. I tried to kill you in a stupid attempt to escape. What was I going to do anyway? There was no way for me to get off the ship. But no, I decided to try and do it anyway. And then you decided not to just shoot me once you saved yourself" She lamented. Her hands fidgetted in her lap as she spoke slowly, her finger rubbing along the claws on her other hand. "I still don't understand why you didn't just kill me there and then, you had a million ways to do it, I was at your mercy entirely. Even though I stupidly fucking offered myself to you, you just helped me, without asking reward, without seeking...any...what's the word..." She paused for a brief moment. "..reparations for my attack on you, you just helped me, you kept me alive..."

I moved closer to the bed, sitting down in the space next to her, taking her hand from her lap, with a little initial resistance, covering it with both of mine. I could feel her warmth emanating from her hand into mine, it was a pleasant feeling, since she seemed to be so much warmer than I was. "Kassara...You're overthin-" I started, but I was quickly interrupted.

"Please...Zero...I need to do this" She sighed, bringing her face up level with mine. The moonlight coming in from the small glass window shone brilliantly off of her ruby-red eyes, and reflecting off of her armor. "I just don't understand why you acted that way towards me...and why you continued to do so afterward. You helped me with my shooting, when I couldn't help myself. You stuck up for me against Elena, even though it could cost you your friends. I just...feel like I owe you so much more than I could ever give to you" She sighed.

"Kassara, You must remember, that you have saved my life too. I couldn't ask for any more than what you've already done; you risked your life for me. You are a part of X-Com now, and really, it makes me so happy that you decided this, it's definitely more than I had ever hoped for when I first saw you here on the Avenger." I smiled at her warmly, causing her to break into a small smile back. She pulled her hand from mine, wiping away her tears quickly. "Anyway, what's in the past is in the past, it's happened already, and there's nothing we can do to change it"

Kassara finished wiping away her tears, now only the smile remaining as she looked at me, her eyes piercing into mine. "I know. And sorry, I don't know why, but I just had to get that off of my chest. I really did. But it probably just sounded like a stupid mess to you. I just want you to know, I guess, that you mean a lot to me"

"It's not a problem, Kassara. You really mean a lot to me, too. Not going to lie though, I wasn't expecting to be talking to Vipers when I first joined X-Com," I chuckled slightly, watching her straighten up a little, now that she seemed a little happier. "And, it was also good to let you know how much I appreciate you getting me out of the prison. I don't think I ever got the chance to thank you for that myself"

"I still think I owe you more than I've given" She cooed back, shifting slightly in place to face me slightly more. I almost did a double take when I saw her expression shift from a happy one, to some sort of devious half-grin, as her eyes started to trace down me. "Maybe... maybe there is a way I could make it up to you..." She hissed softly, as she quickly shifted her weight, placing one of her hands directly in the middle of my chest, pushing me down onto her bed, as she watching me from where she now stood, slowly lowering her body towards mine, until I could feel the bottom of her chest plate digging into my stomach through my shirt.

"Uh...Kassara?" I quietly asked, thoroughly perplexed as to what she was doing, slightly afraid to speak up against the reptile now on top of me. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" She asked, flashing her tongue out at me briefly. "I'm making you mine" She hissed with as much of a seductive tone that I think a Viper could possibly manage. My eyes opened wide as I realized quickly what she meant, but she was already moving. Her hands glided up the scales that lines her sides, below the armor, seeming to skim effortlessly over her amber scales, until she reached her armor, as she released both clasps that held the bottom part of her armor together at the same time, pulling it off, to reveal the bottom of a black undershirt underneath. It looks like it hugged her figure relatively tightly, judging by how the material looked to be very slightly stretched.

"Kassara, wait, stop!" I called out to her, trying to avoid this situation from happening. Yes, it was a completely different situation compared to the first time she had done something like this, but she was drunk, emotional, she didn't really know what she was doing. And she's a Viper...I don't think that was something I would be interested in viewing in that way, and I didn't want to start now. She currently held herself above me, not quite parallel to me, but not far off. Enough so that I could take in the entirety of her armor from where I lay. I had to marvel at her core strength slightly for being able to hold herself like that, though I suppose for Vipers they are quite used to it. Kassara paused, her hands already undoing the second set of clasps on her armor, before she released them, the weird, inhuman smirk only growing on her face.

"You're right...I shouldn't be doing this," She paused, as her eyes continued to hungrily focus on me. "You should. It's...what do you humans call it? Sexier" She said, a flirtatious tone in her voice, as her hands reached out for mine, clasping around the back of my hands, guiding them up towards her, resting them onto the sides of her body, below the armor, so I could feel her scales. They were surprisingly soft, I had imagined them to be a lot more rigid, since that's how they felt when I was being constricted by her, or by her Matriarch, though maybe that's when they were engaging the muscle underneath. But whilst I could feel that they were still scales, they weren't rough, but smooth. She guided my hands slowly up her body, I could feel the grooves in between her scales as my hands went up and up, until they met the undershirt. The fabric felt light and slightly synthetic, but thin, interrupted only by the metal armor she wore, where her hands covered mine, placing them over the clasps.

I could feel my throat salivating more, as I gulped, swallowing away any words I could have possibly used, entranced on what was happening, unable to force myself to do anything else. I pulled very slightly at the clasps, as they popped open, one at a time, causing Kassara to twitch around in slight excitement, before focusing again on the task at hand. Her tongue flicked down from her face, hovering briefly in the air between us, as she let my hands find their own way up to the last set, my eyes tracing her form, the way her waist seemed to perfectly curve inwards, then out again, concealed still mostly by this second part of the armor, which had the four clasps on it before it could be removed, now held on by the two remaining clasps either side of her body. Kassara let out a long, drawn out, content hiss, one of desire, of lust, as I looped my fingers around the back of the last two. I couldn't stop myself, I felt myself feeling hotter and hotter, my spinning head only focusing on what was ahead of me.

I released the last two catches, Kassara taking the armor off herself, her long arm able to lower it to the floor without her body moving much. I could take in her entire figure now, the black undershirt doing little to cover what was underneath. Her lean figure seemed almost perfect from here, the way her body swayed slightly, fluidly, with the perfect curves in her body, it was like they were designed to entice me on purpose. She reached out one of her clawed hands, carefully grasping my chin, to guide my gaze towards her breasts, trapped underneath the garment she wore, holding their shape despite how tight the shirt was.

"This just feels...right..." She sighed, dreamily, as her fingers brushed past my ear, her face lowering closer to mine, I could take in every detail of her, every mark, every coloring. The way her scales formed a very slight protrusion, one might be able to call lips, the brilliance of her hood that seemed to quiver rhythmically, and her hypnotic eyes, keeping me in the trance I had fallen under. She reached down to the bottom of her shirt, raising herself slightly from me, as her arms crossed her body slowly, almost teasing me, as she fumbled for the hem of the undershirt that she now wore. I think the way my body was reacting to this...to her, I don't think I had been able to keep it hidden from her at all, just as her body had revealed itself to me. But despite my actions, my inability to stop, my thoughts never left on the situation. _This is wrong...I shouldn't be doing this..._

"Kassara, stop. We can't do this" I said firmly, closing my eyes, as I didn't want to see her reaction to me.

"What?" She asked airily, taken by surprise by my request.

"I don't want this. I'm sorry" I sighed, opening my eyes to look at her, to come to terms with how hurt she would be. Her mouth hung agape in betrayal, her eyes widened with shock and surprise, her hands fallen defeated by her sides, as she slowly moved away from me, shooting me pained looks of confusion as I got up. "It's not right, I just can't" I tried to explain, my head spinning even more now that I had to get up. I could see her wobbling slightly, both drunk off of the liquor, and off of her own emotions, I might expect.

"Why?" She asked hesitantly, her hands now crossed over her body, closing her off to me.

"Well...a lot of reasons. We're both drunk...We're both soldiers. I shouldn't even be here, what if someone walked in?" I gently intoned, trying to avoid hurting her feelings. She obviously felt vulnerable; I could tell, even in my state.

"It's because I'm a Viper, isn't it? Because I'm different, not human" She sputtered, upset, her voice growing slightly harsher, her voice breaking slightly, her emotions seeping into her voice.

"What?"

"Admit it!" She cried out, turning her body away from me, glancing over her shoulder. "You don't even like me! You just put up with me completely because of Brick. Admit that this is because I'm an Alien!" I paused, struggling to come up with an answer. I didn't want to lie to her, but what was the truth? I paused, watching her hurt eyes stare back at me, waiting for an answer.

"You're drunk! I'm drunk!" I persisted, raising my voice to match hers. "This is something that both of us will regret heavily if we ever went through with it. It's for the best!"

"Zero... Answer me.." She murmured glumly, as if giving me one more chance to make things right. I stared into her eyes, they were pleading with me, trying to persuade me, as if there was hope of something happening.

"Look, it's...possibly...one of the reasons. I don't know..." I admitted. I couldn't lie, yes, there was definitely some reservation because of who she was, but that wasn't the main issue here at all, was it?

"Get out..." She mumbled, turning fully away from me, as I paused beside her bed, watching her head over to the window, staring through the glass to the outside.

"Kassara-" I tried to reconcile, moving over towards her slowly.

"Get out!" She hissed, turning around towards me, her mouth fully extended, her fangs bared in my direction, causing me to stumble backward away from her. I thought of trying to say something, anything, to make the situation better...but there wasn't anything I could do. Sullenly, I left the room opening the door to let in the bright light of the hallways, watching it briefly flood the room, before I left, leaving Kassara on her own in the relative darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 12:22 EST 4/23/2035, location: Unknown)

I woke up to the light from the window washing over my face, glinting through the glass straight into my face, and my head did not like it one bit. As I recoiled from the light, my head continued to throb, more so the more I moved, as I closed my eyes again trying to understand what was happening. I lay still on my bed, the covers on the floor beside me, but I didn't feel too cold, thankfully. I was thankful my undershirt was warm enough to sleep in normally; the armor was too uncomfortable to do so usually. I slowly opened my eyes again, moving slowly to slink myself from my bed, my head hurting as if someone was hitting it repeatedly with a hammer. Think, Kassara, think...I struggled, with the pain, it was tiresome to formulate any thoughts, but I had to try. I glanced around the room, the two female rookies still in bed, asleep, but no Brick in the room. I made my way towards our joint bathroom, trying to see if a quick wash would help with my condition, but from the light escaping out from underneath the door, the answer to where Brick was could be answered.

As I gave up getting into the shower, the handle creaked under the force of Brick opening the door, pausing momentarily as a 'click' from the lock was heard, before she came out, her short hair wet and just covering one of her eyes, water still dripping slightly from the ends, holding her clothes in one hand, dressed only by the towel that she had wrapped around her. How was it holding itself up?

"Morning Kassara! Or is it afternoon yet?" Brick welcomed, waving her free hand at me. "You look dreadful. Are you okay?"

I shook my head in response, but the movement again only really causing pain, as I clasped the side of my face trying to remove it. Brick didn't take long to react, and broke down laughing, dropping her clothes and grabbing her towel as she chortled at my expense. She quickly quietened down though, the way her eyes darted to the bed behind me quickly told me that she was trying to make a conscious effort not to wake up the others.

"Sorry, I should have explained this a lot earlier, since you were drinking so much yesterday. You seem to have a 'little' hangover, which is just a headache, and maybe a slight feeling of illness. I hear food is a great cure for it" She said as she walked past me, back towards her bunk. "You get showered, and we can go get some lunch afterward"

"Sure..."I grudgingly agreed, as I entered the bathroom, the unfogged mirrors again testament to the cold water the shower supplied. I never really looked forward to it, I missed the warm showers Advent provided. But at least I was now aware of what had caused my headache. Last night. Just with a quick thought back to it, I found my usually fairly sharp memory fleeting. I guess that might be another side effect of the alcohol. I closed the door and removed the clothing the remained on me, letting my shirt drop onto the floor, as I stared at myself in the mirror. I did look awful, I don't know what it was, but my eyes just looked tired. I felt like I was missing something, as I looked at myself, but I couldn't get the thought out from the back of my head. I had to remember what happened at the party last night, it felt odd just having that hole in my memory. I tried to play through the events in my head, through the pain, as I turned on the shower, jumping as the cold water rained down onto my scales, sending a shiver along my tail, before I returned to my thoughts. I remembered Elena confronting me yet again, the first games we played to distract away from the incident. I remember the alcohol tasting like muddy water, that's for sure. I remember everyone acting a little daze-y as the evening went on, at least. I remembered the slight sense of pride I got as I saw everyone else around me suffer from the drink, whilst I remained untouched by the poison. I sort of just put it down to the fact I was a snake at the time, but looking back that was definitely the alcohol starting to get the better of me, just without me noticing it.

Well, the shower certainly helped me to a very minute extent, I still looked like I hadn't slept at all, but I felt a tiny bit better, at least. I'm sure Brick will be able to help jog my memory a little bit more over lunch. Using the towel I kept on the drying rack, I quickly wiped down my scales. The water mostly just fell straight off; they weren't porous or anything, but I would still be a little damp if I didn't do so. I put back on my shirt and left the bathroom. Brick was now fully dressed, in her plain white tank top, with jeans on to accompany, except they had holes in their knees. I grabbed my armor by my bed, putting on the pieces with a bit of lethargy, letting out a large yawn to the window letting in the light, as I turned back around towards Brick.

"I'm ready, then" I announced, grabbing her attention, as she stood up with the big grin on her face, as usual. She didn't seem to be in anywhere near as bad a condition as I was in; she was still chirpy and smiley, which certainly contrasted how I must look. I just couldn't be bothered to act happy whilst I had this huge headache going on. We headed down to the lunch hall, thankfully with no sign of Elena anywhere, so at least she wouldn't have another scene to make yet. But to replace her, Goblin was sat on one of the tables, his eyes glaring at me as he spotted me going to get my food with Brick. Well, it's better than the alternative, right?

I grabbed a couple bits of bacon and a few sausages from the array of trays, Brick constantly chatting about how her evening had gone, how she and Echo were undisputed beer pong champions, and the fact that she didn't get back to the room until 3 am. But I wasn't paying her my full attention, just enough to respond when I needed to. I was too busy trying to remember my evening. We sat down on a table with a tired looking Echo, pushing her food around her plate, her dreary eyes glancing up towards us, as she managed a meek wave at Brick, before returning to the arduous task of stirring the food on her plate.

"And I thought Kassara was in a state" Brick commented, dumping herself heavily into the seat next to her, leaving a free chair next to Echo. I placed my food down before I took my seat, the noise of the chair scraping along the floor as I dragged it out making me recoil a bit, and noticeable also Echo.

"It's your fault, Brick. You know nobody can tolerate fucking Vodka like you can. Let alone face the morning after" She complained, rubbing her eyes with her fists.

"I thought Kassara was doing quite well at least. She didn't seem to be wobbling at all until the beer pong" Brick grinned, jabbing her fork in my direction. "Had to change that quickly"

"Yeah, I wish I hadn't had so much. I think it all just hit me from earlier on. I didn't realize how badly alcohol affected me."I agreed. "I've had so much I'm still struggling to piece together what even happened last night.." I admitted.

"Really? That bad?" Echo commented. "See Brick, you're not being the responsible adult to Kassara you thought you were being"

"I'm not her mom, I'm supposed to be a bad influence" She winked in response, laughing at me. "Well, you weren't doing too badly at the start. You didn't lose any of the drinking games, at least"

"Yeah, you seemed to be enjoying yourself most of the time. I saw you chatting with a bunch of the other soldiers. And without Brick being there to talk over you the entire time" Echo responded, a mock pout being returned from Brick. But she quickly diverted her attention from the conversation, sticking her arm up in the air quickly, whilst grinning. I followed her gaze back over to the trays, where Zero was getting his food. He caught our eyes, starting to give a wave back to Brick, but kind of stopped halfway through, and quickly went back to getting his food. He then proceeded to head over and sit next to Goblin, refusing to look over towards us.

"What's up with him?" Echo asked dryly, her plate finally empty. Good, the way she was eating her food so slowly was making me kind of antsy.

"Huh..." Brick shrugged. "I know he wasn't faring too well at the end of the evening. In fact, he was in a fairly similar state to you by the time you two left. Oh, I remember now, you almost walked into the bloody door!" She blurted, bursting out into laughter again. "It was like you were just swaying side to side, and just veered into the wall!"

"I think that's just a shining example that you let her have too much, Brick" Echo commented. I tuned out their conversation, as the new memories started coming back to me, slowly retracing my steps from the end of the party, from where I left, walking down the corridor with Zero to my room. I struggled on through my headache, as I slowly played through the events that were gradually coming towards me, until I began to remember what happened in my room. As I recalled the events, I started feeling sick, like my stomach was already in my throat trying to get out.

"You ok, Kassara? You're looking kinda pale" Brick commented, cutting her previous sentence short. I snapped back to reality at the mention of my name, glancing up towards her.

"Yeah...yeah, must be the alcohol..." I distractedly responded, my head fighting through its pain as it sought out what exactly happened last evening. Did what I remember happened actually happen? I glanced back over towards Zero, who was now talking to Goblin, facing away from me, but the wave of dread and anxiety washing over me was enough confirmation. My head suddenly felt 300 times more light-headed, it explained his reaction so well this morning. Oh, by the Elders, what the hell did I do? Why in my drunk state did I ever think that was a good idea? It almost perfectly explained Zero's reaction to seeing me, what must he be thinking? I felt the huge weight of guilt slowly settling onto my shoulders, weighing me down enough to stop caring about how much my head hurt, I felt terrible.

"Huh, seems like lunch hasn't worked as well as I had hoped..." Brick sighed. "Well, at least you'll know not to drink so much for next time" She got up, picking up all of our trays as she did so, placing them over in a neat stack on a trolley with the remaining trays and plates. She headed over towards Goblin and Zero, trying to talk to them, leaving me and Echo on our own for a small bit.

"Hey, Kassara?" Echo tried to grab my attention from looking over towards Brick. "Are you ok, really?"

"Yeah, why?" I responded blankly, my head hurting to put too much thought into actually answering the question, that and the fact it was already a little distracted with my own thoughts.

"Look...I'm not sure if I've got this correct or anything, but I don't think Brick's cottoned on too quickly..." She began, glancing to her side before continuing, hushing her tone slightly as she did so, leaning over towards me. "Is there something going on between you and Zero? I can't think it's a coincidence that he decided to sit next to Goblin"

"Yeah, we're good, I think. Unless I've accidentally done something." I hurriedly responded. "Goblin's his friend too. He's allowed to hang out with others that aren't me and Brick, you know" I gave an attempt at a grin back, though I'm sure it looked anything but that, considering how I felt.

"Alright...look, I'm just offering this, as a friend, Kass, I'm here if you want to talk about something without Brick knowing. She's not exactly known for keeping secrets. But I'm a little more tight-lipped" She explained, brushing a bit of her hair away from her eyes, curling it around her ear as she did so. "But I'm just saying, that wasn't the normal interaction of two people who weren't having an issue going on."

I paused, unsure of whether or not to take her up on her offer. I didn't want anybody to ever know what I had done, but that was kind of banking on Zero keeping quiet about it, in a similar manner to before. It did little to help ease my feelings on the matter to thinking about this, and only made me feel sicker. But would talking about it with Echo at least help lift some of the weight off of my shoulders? I think my hesitation at her proposal told her all she needed to know, but I wasn't going to tell her anything more. I couldn't risk anyone knowing of what I had done. I didn't trust her enough, maybe, not with something like that.

"I don't know. We're both still recovering from last night, so I'm sure nothing is the matter. Anyway, If I've done something to annoy him, I don't know what it is. He'll tell me, or he'll tell Brick, and she'll tell me. But I appreciate the thought" I answered, trying to not let my expression give anything else away. I could tell by the way Echo raised one of her eyebrows at me, that she didn't believe a word I was saying. Thankfully, Brick was back to end what could have otherwise been a short staredown.

"Zero's not too worse for wear from last night, seems he limited how much he drank, unlike a couple of people I know" Brick announced, standing over us at our table. "I know you're both in the rough a bit, but we should go to the gym, exercise the alcohol out of our system?"

"Oh, Lord, Brick, I severely doubt any form of exercise is going to help at all, especially with a headache" Echo complained immediately, slumping her head back onto the table.

"I'll take that as a yes. Kass, you joinin'?" Brick asked

"I don't think so. I just want to go back to bed" I shook my head, slowly, to avoid it hurting too much from the action. I didn't want to do anything physical, I just wanted to be left alone with my thoughts for a bit, and deal with them myself. That, and maybe some sleep would help my head.

"Huh...well, alright, we'll go back to the dorm first. But I'll have to come get you if you want to come out again. Ship rules" She shrugged, kicking Echo's chair gently, to get her to stand up, as I followed suit. "I'll check up on your every couple of hours or something, until you're awake again. Don't go to sleep for too long though, the last thing you want to do is fuck up your sleeping schedule"

"Thanks..." I muttered in response, as we left the hall as a group. I looked back over my shoulder to Zero, catching his eyes slightly with mine, before he turned away immediately, tightening the knot in my throat further, as I left to go back to my dorm.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 16:41 EST 4/25/2035, location: West America)

It had been a couple of days since the party, and since Kassara decided to go on an emotional rollercoaster, but I hadn't had the opportunity to speak with her about it properly. Well, that's not true. I have had plenty of opportunities, but I don't want to bring it up, it was better avoided. Which meant avoiding her. I had stayed away from Brick as well, unfortunately, in avoiding Kassara. I had seen them a couple of times at lunch or dinner, but apart from the first time, Kassara didn't spot me at all. I felt awful about what had happened, the whole situation was a mess. I felt bad that she was upset, but I didn't feel guilty about my actions, I couldn't have done anything else that would have been better. It was what she forced out of me, effectively telling her that I had an issue with her being a Viper. Which is not true, contextually, I was referring to what she had offered, but I don't think she took it that way at all. Part of me just hopes that she completely forgot about it, maybe she was too drunk. She was giving me a little confused look when I spotted her for lunch on the night afterward, but I couldn't risk it.

On the other hand, I had got to speak with Goblin and the others a bit more recently, which was a nice change of pace from Brick and Kassara, a welcome one for sure. But he did tend to hang around with a few other soldiers I hadn't spoken so much with, including Angel, who I don't think I was on the best of terms with in the first place, but I was getting to know them all better. But he also tended to have Elena around, I'm guessing since they shared their anti-Alien sentiments, they quickly found companionship in each other. I'm sure Deadbolt would have been jealous. I think I've just been a bit more fortunate that Elena hadn't been around so much over the past couple of days, otherwise I'm sure she would quickly bring up my idiocy at the party. But she hadn't brought it up when I sat down for dinner with them yesterday. Without all the anti-Alien sentiments she harbored, she was actually a really interesting person. Her stories outmatched hours tenfold, and she had a plethora of them. She seemed like a grizzled war veteran compared to most of us, which was probably true, since she had sat through over 15 years of conflict against Advent, her group striking and fighting in the shadows.

She was the kind of person I use to want to be, the kind of image of my future self I had as I joined up to X-Com; an unstoppable fighter, with pin precision aim, a true threat to Advent forces. In many ways, I had been working towards achieving that image, but it wasn't one of a lone wolf anymore, not one of a 'freedom fighter', or a rebel. I felt more like I belonged in a military force, it was what X-Com appear to be, even if they were little different to the Reapers, or Skirmishers, technology put to one side. But I wouldn't want to be like she is now. I suppose the fact that I used to live in the cities, around these Aliens, has stopped me being as xenophobic, but I must attribute most of it to meeting a captured Viper.

"Zero" An authoritative voice broke me out of my daydream, as I sat up on the bench I was laying down on in the gym area. I had been doing some light work towards my bench presses, trying to ease myself back into it, after more than a week of not doing anything. Standing at the door was Bradford, in his grey vest, his stubble still present, his hardened, unblinking eyes watching me as I got up to address him.

"Sir," I greeted, giving a small nod towards him.

"Finish of shortly and get showered. I'm sending you out on a mission" He instructed, holding himself perfectly upright, with both of his hands held behind his back.

"Of course, sir. Who's on the team?" I asked, turning away from him to take the weight off of the bar to put them away.

"It's just you, Elena, and Angel" He replied with a monotonous voice.

"Pardon? There's only three of us? Why not 6?" I blurted, taken by surprise at the small amount of us going.

"This won't be a regular mission. Pack up comfortable, because you'll be on our first covert mission." He started, beginning to pace briefly in the front of the gym, as I finished putting my weights back. "Elena will tell you everything you need to do, so follow her order to the letter, because I'm putting her in charge of the operation. You will meet up with her Reapers when you get on the ground, where you'll get stocked up."

"What's a covert action and what are we doing then?"

"You're basically being a group of spies for me. Your task is to find where Mox is being held. We've no intel on his location, other than he is in the West of America, thanks to the Reapers, and the Viper doesn't know what to suggest, as she says that there are prisons located all over the continent, and he could be in any of them, if at all. This mission will include scouting out the location once you find it, as you will also be the squad going in to save him," He explained further. "Get down to the armory as soon as you finish up, the others will be waiting"

"Yes, sir" I nodded once again, as he quickly paced off down the corridor. I subconsciously ran my fingers through the curls of my hair as I mentally prepared myself to go on the mission. I headed back to my room, I needed to get cleaned up from the gym session first. Whilst Angel and Elena weren't my ideal partners in such a mission, I didn't even know what we were doing, it sounded like Elena was calling pretty much all the shots here. I don't doubt someone of her caliber knows what she's doing.

I burst into my room, taking off my shirt and throwing it in the general direction of my bed, as I headed straight for the shower. Vandal was sat on his bunk, watching me, but he returned to reading his book quite quickly. After quickly showering, I put on my tracksuits over my wet legs, as I ran towards my bed, dripping water everywhere, to grab my towel. I rapidly dried my hair first, working my way down my body, before getting changed. Because of Bradford's advice, I chose to remain with the tracksuits, and put on a light t-shirt, before slipping my boots back on from the bathroom, and heading down to the armory. I was excited to get back onto the field since my injury, at least.

Arriving at the armory, I saw all of my armor laid out for me, but it wasn't the steel armor. Instead, just the Kevlar vest lay on the desk, and my pistol and magnetic sniper rifle, both painted a black color. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't my normal sniper rifle, it didn't have the scope with enhanced zoom that I like to use, but just the base one. Bradford was stood int he middle of the armory, talking to Elena and Angel, who both already had all of their equipment, the little Gremlin still hovering above Angel. I Grabbed the Kevlar vest and put it on, quickly grabbing my weapons and heading over.

"Alright, everyone's here. We're dropping you outside one of the Reapers' hideouts in the area. You'll meet up with some Reapers who can supply you with what you need for your mission, including food, coats, maps, and any other intel that can aid you. Follow Elena's lead and follow her words to the letter. Angel's Gremlin can contact us and relay information back to us, and to tell us when you are ready to make the prison break yourselves. Though don't use this close to any Advent establishment; the signal could be intercepted if you aren't careful. Best of luck, and we'll be in contact soon" He instructed, turning away from us.

"So, you'll be joining me, huh Zero?" Elena asked immediately, as soon as Bradford was out of the room. "Hardly who I thought he would send considering I asked for a Sniper to accompany me" Her tone wasn't as dismissive as her words were. But she was being very blunt, regardless

"Well, you're stuck with me. I'm not going to be deadweight, I can hold my own" I defended myself.

"I know. Deadbolt has vouched for you fairly heavily. I suppose at least I'll get to know how much his words mean" She gave a smirk, turning to lead the way to the hangar. Angel followed in silence, the door to the Skyranger already open, as the engines started up, beginning to whine as more and more power was directed towards them. Elena stepped on first, and me last, as we assumed our seats. The Skyranger didn't wait any longer than necessary, the ramp closing, as it took off, the sudden acceleration making my insides feel light, as it always did.

Elena, grabbed her mask, holding it in her hands, turning it over and over, showing us the gas-mask-like appearance of it, the two eyeglasses and the mouthpiece common to it. Maybe they were gas masks in function, but they certainly made them appear odd and mysterious at the least. She put the mask to her face, adjusting it slightly until it was in place, and pulled her hood up, completing the look. She grabbed her vector rifle, holding it over her lap as she inspected it, unlocking the chamber and loading in each bullet of it individually, unlike the magazines we used.

"Dropzone is approaching, there's a lot of heat signatures on the floor, keep your eyes open and your guns ready" Firebrand called over the ship comms, as the ramp slowly opened, the ropes falling out down to the floor. I led the charge, jumping onto the furthest rope, rappeling down to the ground, drawing my pistol and scanning the surroundings as the others landed, as was standard protocol. The place we landed was in what looked like a small abandoned village, or town. There were a few tall buildings, mostly made out of bricks, but nothing too tall. The road ahead winded further ahead, houses lining each side, with their windows smashed out, their roofs in disrepair, some with doors hanging on by a hinge.

"Best of luck out there" The final call came, as the ropes disappeared above us, and the Skyranger flew out of sight, around the side of a tall barn behind us, it's wooden panel splintered and in tatters, allowing us to spot the hull of the ship through some of the gaps.

"They're watching us alright" Elena commented, confidently striding ahead of me, her weapon still on her back. She removed the mask from her face, looking around at the derelict buildings around them. I drew my sniper rifle from my back, holstering the pistol at my side, but Elena pushed my barrel down to the ground. "You're not gonna be able to get a shot off if you try to. You'll be killed where you stand"

We waited for a few more moments, before a similarly cloaked figure emerged from one of the houses off to our right, vaulting through the window, rifle drawn. You could tell from the build that the human was male, he stood a lot taller than I did, and I could tell that from a fair way away.

"Elena?" The low, hushed voice came from the figure, approaching us with some caution. Elena nodded in return, as the figure held up his fist, as more and more Reapers seemed to appear from nowhere, dropping out of the smallish trees that lined the front of some of the houses, from the gaps in the barn behind us, peeking around the side of some of the abandoned houses. "We got the message that you were arriving. Come, follow us"

The figure didn't remove his mask, as Elena did, but walked us down the slightly dusty path, leaving the faintest of footprints behind us, as he led us around the back of one of the houses. He pushed two plants slightly to the side, revealing a cellar door, with a rusted padlock. Upon closer inspection, the padlock had been cracked open, as he bent down and simply removed it, open up the cellar for us to go into. Heading down the steps into the darkness, the man led the way with a small torch, scaring the shadows away from his feet as he walked down.

"We have set this as your base of operations. We secured the area, and placed all the resources we have here: Food, water, bedding, Vektor rifles, and their ammunition. There are some coats as well, should you need them." He explained, before he stopped, almost causing me to trip onto him, as he flicked a switch, the room in front of us lighting up. It was dull, dingy, and dusty, but everything he said was here was here. Canned food lined shelves, and three sleeping bags were on the floor, each with one of the black cloaks lying on top, with a bunch of weapons in the corner, though from a first glance none of the ammunition was the same type my gun took. Guess that was to be expected though.

"But gear up, quickly, as we need to go collect the dead drops. Our scouts tell us that there is some Advent presence to our north, and no doubt your ship will have alerted them a bit. We'll show you how to fight like the Reapers" He continued. He seemed to be proud of who he was, as a Reaper, and kind of spoke down to us like we were lesser than him. But that might just me. I obeyed, leaving the cloak where it lay, as we followed him back up the stairs. "The dead drops contain all the intel we have on your Skirmisher" He grunted, saying the word 'skirmisher' with clear disgust in his voice. "Including possible locations, and some rough maps of prominent Advent locations nearby, in case you need more intel."

"Thank you" Elena acknowledged, still with her weapon holstered, following the man back up the stairs to the surface. As we reached the top, there were 5 of the figures stood out in the open in front of us, each with their own mask, holding their weapons at the ready. Each of the masks differed slightly, now that I paid attention to them. Each had a slightly different mouthpiece, slightly different sized eyes. They were personal to the individuals wearing them.

"There are five drops we need to secure," The first of the group waiting for us spoke, her small figure not reflected in her commanding voice. "Scouts report that Advent is seeking them now, and they've called in a dropship for reinforcements and pickup. We can only see two groups at the moment, but there is sure to be more to come"

"Alright" Elena stepped forwards. "The quicker the better. We have a Sniper who can help us take out the targets quickly if he stays at a range, and a specialist who can provide aid if needed, but that shouldn't be necessary. Stay with the shadows, and they won't know what hit them. You two, with me, the other four, take a path right, wait for the targets to react or go down, and start shooting" Elena quickly ordered. The two that had just spoken quickly separated from the rest, as they rushed off across the road, heading towards some foliage, leading into a row of large trees.

"Looks like most of the dead drops are in the forested area about a kilometer north of the village. Let's move quickly" She ordered, as she led the way in the other direction. As we made our progress, jogging along concealed paths that had trees and plants overgrowing onto them, I kept my eyes peeled for movement, but I couldn't help but get distracted by those around me. Their footsteps seemed to almost hold no sound, the crunching and vibrations coming only from the feet of me and Angel. We reached the tree line of a forest soon after leaving the village, Elena slowing up her jog, barely out of breath, though Angel and I needed a moment to recover. She pointed me to a small bit of raised ground, with an individual tree standing proudly on top. I clambered up to the base of the tree, watching down the tree lines. Elena had chosen a good spot, I had good sightlines through the leaves. They weren't as dense as I would have thought, but there was still plenty of cover from my fire if I was spotted.

"Alright, first dead drop is ahead. Hold position, I'm going forward" Elena ordered, as Angel stayed back, behind me, knowing full well his job was not to get involved here. I watched as Elena crept forwards, brushing leaves out of the way as she searched the floor, searching the trees, for anything, friend or foe. She seemed to search the ground for a moment, but I couldn't be sure from where I was stood. I looked to her flanks, just about spotting the other two Reapers slowly moving up alongside her, staying low, staying hidden. If I didn't know roughly where they were beforehand, I would have no chance of spotting them.

"First drop is secure, I've got it here. Enemies sighted ahead, bearing of 20 degrees from me, 30 meters. Two troopers and a Captain" Elena called out over the comms, her voice obviously hushed. I saw the two other Reapers change their direction, slowly moving to our left. I looked to where Elena had called out, and indeed, the unforgettable shining red of the Captain's armor showed itself through the leaves.

"I've got a shot. Give me the word" I answered back, crouching down onto my left knee, letting my rifle lean on my right knee, as I lowered my head to my scope. They were stood still, it was an easy shot, no way I would miss, even with this scope.

"Hold your fire. We can get closer and take them out in one go," Elena ordered back. The two Reapers quickened their pace, still silent, even through the leaves and through the trees, as they closed the distance between the group. "They've found the second drop. That means they'll have called reinforcements alright. Take the shot on my go"

I waited, holding my scope on the Captain's head, zeroing in on the glass that covered its eyes, hiding the inhuman parts of them. Fucker wouldn't even see it coming.

"Now!" She hissed into the comms. I took my shot, the time it took for the rifle to spin up and fire the projectile was just enough for the Captain to begin to turn towards me, but I saw my fragment of metal fly and lodge itself into its head, which snapped back grotesquely, held on just by its neck, but it was dead before the Captain even hit the floor. Two more shots rang out, the two troopers falling before they could find cover. I saw Elena through my scope, reloading her weapon before she moved up to the corpses.

"We got the intel. Our second group should engage about now as well, let's get moving" She instructed, as we moved forward. I tried to keep up with the group, but I was clearly a lot slower as we raced through the bushes.

"Shit, we've been spotted!" A call came out from our left, not over the comms. I saw a flash of a rifle as I skidded to a halt, before a cry of pain followed it, matching the voice of the female Reaper we had seen earlier. I stopped to look through my scope, to see if I had any shots, all I could see was a Viper dropping down towards a cloak on the floor, unmistakeably the Reaper that had just been spotted.

"Zero, you got a shot? take it" Elena ordered. I again steadied my breath, as I saw the Viper raise her rifle to the cloak on the floor. I didn't have time to line up the headshot, I knew if I was late, that Viper could kill our ally, if she wasn't already dead. I let my shot loose, and saw it connect against the armor, melting the alloy upon impact, a hole revealing itself on the right side of the Viper, as she staggered under the hit. I heard a second shot ring out, bringing the hissing figure to the floor, before she could react properly.

"Angel, they're still alive, use the stabilization protocol!" Elena called. I was impressed, she had obviously studied our classes to understand how we fight, and knew what abilities we had. She must have put a lot of effort into it, but I'm sure she would never admit that. The Gremlin flew over, despite the fact it could get shot at, and released a lot of the blue gel over the downed Reaper, before returning to Angel.

"Alright, two more contacts are there, another Viper and a Muton. We're gonna need your firepower here, Angel" She instructed, moving further up, almost disappearing from my sight, but I could just catch her cloak, but I wouldn't be able to spot her again, as soon as I look away, she will be impossible to find. Angel pushed up past me, taking cover at one of the larger trees in front of me, just in time before I saw a tongue shoot out just past him, barely missing. I peeked around the tree, following the tongue back to its owner, and brought my eye back down to my scope. I could see where she was attacking from, but the cover she was using was to good from where I was stood. I quickly reloaded my gun, bringing myself back up to three fresh rounds. I knew I had to count the rounds I had left, I had about 4 reloads in my kevlar vest, but that was it. So I was down one, but I had an additional round on top of it. As expected, the Muton fired at Angel also; he was the only target they could see at the moment.

"Now!" Elena called through the comms. As soon as she did, an explosion went off, kicking up smoke and dirt into the air, right where I had clocked the Viper to be standing. I re-steadied my weapon, waiting for any sign of movement from the smoke as it began to dissipate. I heard two shots ring out from in front of, noticing the muffled sound of the Vektor rifle to be behind the sounds. I could just make out the tail of the Viper beginning to appear from the smoke, and I took a shot at where I thought she was, now her cover would be blown by the grenade. A sharp hiss quickly confirmed I had hit my mark, as Angel pushed up quickly, taking cover at a rock just big enough to provide cover, and he too fired towards another figure past the smoke cloud.

"All clear. Move up" Elena ordered, as we pressed forward towards the Reaper. As we moved up, the two Reapers came back into sight, staying away from the bodies in the middle of the small clearing made by the grenade, waiting in the shadows. "Nice shots, Zero. I guess Deadbolt decided not to try and tell any fibs when it came to you." She commended.

"Wouldn't have been able to hit them without your 'nade" I quickly replied, earning a short chuckle from the male Reaper, hidden behind his mask.

"Not a grenade. Claymore" He corrected, flashing his own at me. It looked about the same size as a grenade, but it was unmistakably different, the explosive was a whitish color, and more of a flat shape than round.

"Angel, you take the Reaper, we're going to rendezvous with the other squad. I think the Viper has the third drop, could you get it, Zero?" Elena asked, motioning for the other Reaper to follow her, as they started moving away. I went over to the first Viper I shot at, her body sprawled over the back of a log, the hole clearly visible in her armor. She had dropped a small spike by her feet, obviously, she had just picked it up when we shot at her, and had fumbled for her weapon before she died. I grabbed the spike, unscrewing the top to take a look inside. There were several bits of paper folded and rubber banded together, forming the small package. I put it in my vest, shoving it where I once had a magazine, before running to catch up to the others.

I made up the ground quickly, dashing between trees and plants, slowing down as I saw the figures of the Reapers in front of me. I could only count two, probably Elena and the other, but they already had their rifles up.

"Advent reinforcements are dropping in now, keep your heads low" The male spoke over our comms, turning around to glance at me briefly.

"What's the situation?" I asked, dropping myself to one of the trees to catch my breath quickly. I could see Angel also catching up and trying to take position, lowering the body he was carrying to his side.

"We've got four of the drops, last one is about 50 meters ahead of us, but the flare is pretty much right in our way. Should be an easy mop up, if they don't drop too many..."

I scoped towards the flare, scanning the area around it. It lay in a small clearing, the canopy of the trees parting above the spot, the sunlight illuminating the ground. It was hard to see, with the red of the flare shining into my eyes, but I noticed something else besides it. A small red light continuously blipped, indicating an object on the floor. A claymore. Right, so this was already going to be an ambush attack. Indeed, the whooshing sound of the engine of a bright red ship quickly filled our ears, hovering above the marked flair. I couldn't see through the canopy, but I saw what dropped into the middle, as I held my scope on the targets.

"Zero, you take the first shot, we'll go in on your mark" Elena whispered through the comms. I waited for them all to drop, making a mental note of who had come down. Three Troopers, a Captain, a Stun lancer, a Mec...and some sort of white Advent general. I couldn't tell, I had never seen the unit before. Better safer than sorry. I lined up my scope, holding it on the head of the new troop, watching as it bent onto one knee, holding a hand on his chest whilst it put its weapon onto the floor, as if in some sort of salute to something. I breathed in as I started to squeeze the trigger, ready to finish off the new contact quickly.

But before I could fire a shot, a hand quickly wrapped around my mouth, sharply dragging me backward, my hands unable to grasp my rifle as it fell to the floor. Within seconds, I was completely trapped within the coils of a Viper who had snuck up behind me. She released her hand from my mouth, turning her head around to look me directly in my eyes as I gasped for air, a feeling that I felt I was, unfortunately, getting more and more familiar with. I couldn't move anything but my head. I felt my head get lighter and lighter, as my heart thumped within my chest, begging to get out. I couldn't die like this, I was terrified of the creature that was killing me, slowly but surely, with all of my allies focusing on the enemies in front, rather than the enemy behind. As I stared into the determined eyes of my attacker, barely holding my focus, my eyes darted towards the armor of the Viper. A hole was in the side of her armor, a piece of metal lodged in its place. I drew my eyes back up to her face, the amber scales on her neck glistening with the murky green color of her blood, which I traced towards a small bullet hole in the side of her neck.

"Zero!" Angel called out, as a shot flew past me, grazing the Viper that held me, causing her to uncoil, as she gripped her weapon and aimed it towards me. I let out a yell as I regained my breath, panicked, diving towards my gun, whipping it up to face my attacker and loosing my magazine straight into her, all three rounds hitting the Serpent before she could attack again. I think I decided right there and then that Vipers are the most terrifying creatures I had ever come across. I couldn't help myself, I couldn't control myself, I could only ball myself up, hunkering down at the tree I now sat at, my breath never recovering, I was breathing too quickly, I knew it, but I couldn't stop.

"Zero, get a grip!" Elena hissed through the comms, but I couldn't register her voice, or react to it. I could only hear the words passing over my ears.

"He's panicking" Angel answered, as I heard shots start to ring out at the Advent troops that had just dropped. The sounds of explosions filled the air, the dust and smoke impairing even my vision as the battle continued, but my hands were shaking too much, I couldn't even grip one of the new magazines for my gun.

"He's hit! I've been spotted!" Elena called out frantically. I peered around the side of my cover, my safety, and saw the MEC running towards her trying to get a flank. I patted down my kevlar vest, desperately trying to find my grenade, trying desperately to help here. I thankfully found the grenade quickly, popping the pin and throwing it in the path of the MEC. The bot didn't cease its movement despite the presence of the grenade, and so got hit by the blast when it went off, sending shrapnel into the pristine white plates of the robot. I picked up my rifle, trying again to reload it with hands that refused to be still, finding a bit more success this time, finally able to get the cartridge in. I was trying to take deeper breaths, trying to control myself, though my rapidly beating heart was not allowing me. I leaned out of my cover slowly, trying to assess the situation again, seeing the Mec now downed, with Elena being met with a barrage of gunfire, it was only a matter of time before they hit her.

"Stun Lancer!" Angel called out, taking a shot at the moving target as he dashed towards Elena, the shot missing. I leveled my rifle shakily, to the figure, but I knew I couldn't do it, knew that it was a waste of a round. I stared hopelessly on, as the Lancer got closer and closer to his quarry.

"Take the shot!" She yelled, and I snapped back to my target, flicking my weapon back up, and fired a round at the lancer. The round caught his leg, grazing it at best, but from behind him, a second shot rang out, the head of the lancer snapping sideways, crumpling to the floor.

"Well, they know where I am now" A quiet voice interrupted the comms, clearly from the Reaper who had just shot. I saw the remaining troops swivel to their sides, pointing at the flanking enemy, as they repositioned to get more cover from the Reaper, which meant less cover from me.

"Can you re-conceal?" Elena asked

"Not yet...the troopers are gonna try and flank me" She answered back, her voice unmistakeably calm.

"Angel, get the gremlin on her; we need to push up" Elena ordered, running from the tree she was behind, finding a stump further up, and taking a shot at one of the Troopers, however, the shot failed to hit its mark. I saw the drone whizz over across the small battlefield to the small figure hunkered down behind a fallen log, half hidden from me by leaves.

With two of the three Reapers now revealed, the enemy was more than aware of their new positions. I checked for the three remaining targets, trying to see if I had a good shot on any of them. We outnumbered them, this should be easy enough. I could only see the Captain, his red armor unmistakeable, even through the trees and bushes and plants that blocked the way. But I only caught glimpses of the two troopers as they passed, running towards where I had heard the shot come from, trying to flank their target.

"Incoming on my position" Her calm voice came through our comms. I made the split-second decision not to shoot at the Captain, but instead advance my position further forward, to try and take out the Troopers instead. I dashed for the next tree I could get to, hurdling over plants sprawling across the floor to avoid tripping, arriving at my target unscathed, but out of breath. I leaned around the side as I recovered, seeing the two Troopers already flanking both sides of the Reaper, who sat hunkered down, with the drone hovering around her. The first Trooper opened fire, his magnetic gun launching rounds at the vulnerable Reaper. I saw the shots connect, even through the field of the gremlin, but the second Trooper, who shot immediately after, seeing the Reaper still alive and kicking, thankfully missed every single one of its shots on the stationary target, probably due to the aid protocol protecting her.

"I'm taking the shot!" Angel shouted, pushing forward ahead of me, flanking one of the Troopers who had attempted to flank our Reaper, swiftly taking him down. I saw the Captain point out Angel to the remaining trooper, before taking a shot himself, the quick burst fire of his weapon crashing into the Specialist as he finished firing, sending him, back into cover, clutching his side in pain. I peeked around the corner to see the second Trooper fall to the combined gunfire of the two Reapers. I took the opportunity to line up my shot on the Captain, it was much clearer this time, since he had only managed to get behind low cover. My shot hit the red plates of his armor, staggering him backward, but it was the bullet that flew from behind it that ended its life.

"The last drop is just ahead. We've got no more immediate contacts" The Reaper muttered to us as he stepped out from the rocky cover he had been behind, revealing himself to us.

"You get it, we'll stay here" Elena ordered, nodding at him as he headed off in front of us, darting between the trees, until he seemed to disappear from sight altogether. Angel had sent his Gremlin over to the Reaper, healing up her wounds with the medigel, not that it would be a permanent solution to the gunshot wounds she received, but it would help with the pain. He was still injured from when he had been shot, he placed her health above his, waiting for the Gremlin to do its job on the Reaper before he allowed himself to undergo the same treatment.

"That was…difficult" Elena sighed, heading over towards us, promptly sitting down on a log by me, leaning her rifle on it as well. "I hope this information is worth the effort, I would hate for us to lose a Reaper to get a skirmisher out from his cell"

"He had better be a valuable asset, Dragunova" The female Reaper softly retorted, her voice quiet and smooth. "I would much prefer Mox to rot than to lose another"

"I despise the Skirmishers as much as anyone here. But he fights the Elder Assassin, just as we fight the Mage. I hate to admit it, but we need their help in the face of this threat. If their whole organization is running from someone sent by the Elders to cut them down, at least you know they are fighting for the right side" She defended herself vehemently, making sure not to show any compassion for them in front of her other Reapers. Maybe she didn't have compassion for the Skirmisher we were set to rescue, I wouldn't be that surprised.

"And you!" She whipped around, pointing towards me. "How can someone with the experience you have panic so badly!? Get a grip of yourself. I'm not having you sit at the back fretting when we head straight into the prison for this mission. You are not going to be waited on, got it?"

"Sorry, I just...I don't know what happened..." I feebly defended myself, not even giving myself the dignity of looking her in the face as she pulled back her mask, to reveal the anger in her eyes. "I need your head in the game for this one, I'm not dying because of your incompetence, got it?"

"Understood, Elena" I nodded back, deciding I was more scared of her than any enemy I could possibly face. I know she meant well by it...I think, anyway, but she truly was terrifying when she was angry. She seemed to pause as she measured my expression, seeming satisfied with my response, before she placed her mask back on, adjusting it slightly.

"At least Deadbolt wasn't lying about you being a good shot" She added, turning away from me as the Reaper came back, the fifth and final spike in his hands. With all the information secured, we made our way back to the village we had dropped in, albeit much slower this time due to injury. I hope Angel could cope, his injury didn't look like anything more than a bad scrape, but it could still affect his performance. I counted the rounds I had left in my rifle as we were walking back, the sun just now starting to set on our left-hand side. It had been a hectic arrival here, but we were supposed to be a lot more settled down and quiet now we had the information, we just need to go and check on the places ourselves.

Arriving back at the small basement that we would call our home for the next week, the beds all looked more inviting than they had when we first walked in, the fatigue, both metnal and physical, had started to set in. We could drape the blankets over us for a bit more warmth at least, after we had some dinner, plenty of cold canned food to choose from. Not that I expected any of it to be particularly nice. I suppose I would just have to get use to it now.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

(Sergeant 'Zero', 11:41 EST 05/02/2035, location: West America)

"Here, see if you can see anything"

I broke out of my daydream, turning towards Elena, who was holding a pair of binoculars out towards me, her mask on, hood up, the gas mask seeming to stare into my soul. An entire week with her and it still unnerved me. I took them off of her, looking down towards the prison site we were watching over, the large complex consisting of many relatively small buildings, with plenty of open space in between them, with a large number of guards patrolling the grounds. This is the fourth one we had been to in just over a week, traveling around the area. The four prisons we had picked out from the intel contained in the dead drop were the ones that had high staffing and low inmate counts.

"The map of the prison suggests that if there's going to be any sign of him, it's going to be from the cell blocks on the left side, out towards the interrogation rooms, located in the south. Sorry, the far side" Elena annotated, correcting her use of directions so that it was consistent. "But I haven't found anything yet. We've been waiting here since dawn"

I lazily looked through the binoculars briefly, scanning the courtyard. There seemed to be a huge abundance of troopers, and plenty of towers both around and inside the compound. But there had been no movement that would otherwise be deemed irregular. I lowered them, handing them to Angel to look, who took them off of me in silence. I pulled at the hood of my cloak, keeping the midday sun slightly out of my eyes. It had been interesting wearing their clothes, wielding their weapons, but I didn't feel like a Reaper. Just looked the part, minus the mask.

"Don't know. If it was anything like when I was imprisoned, they don't bother dragging you out of your cell. They tend to just stain where you sleep with your own blood" I shrugged. I admit, I was completely bored at this point, it had been days of endless trekking, or endless waiting. No in-between. And the food was awful as well. I don't know how many more cans of cold soup I could handle. Elena and Angel rarely filled the time with conversation as well, just to make matters worse. Silence was more my friend than anything else.

"Of course, I forgot you got the full experience," Elena responded in a deadpan voice. "That doesn't bring us much hope of finding Mox"

"We're not really looking for Mox here though. You should look for an important figure. They tend to like taking the credit for any information extracted."

"So we're going to have to go back to the other prisons to check again, are we? This would have been good information earlier, Zero" She chastised, putting her gas mask into her hands, and removing it from her face to look at me, almost expressionless.

"There's been nothing at the other prisons. I would have seen it" I reassured, taking the binoculars back from Angel, and handing them back to Elena. "But we're looking for leader figures. Elders, Archons, anything important. At my prison, the Viper Matriarch herself decided to pay me multiple visits,"

"The Viper Matriarch?" She repeated, "The Vipers have a ruler?"

"Yeah, she's terrifying. Brown color, really tall, you'll know her when you see her" I nodded in response, trying to play it a little cool, though it probably just came off as showing off to Elena. I don't think there was ever really any pleasing her anyway.

"So then why did the Viper at X-Com help you escape the clutches of her leader?" She asked, seemingly genuinely curious.

"…I wouldn't be able to answer that, I don't know how she thinks" I shrugged.

"That's the problem; they don't think at all. They're all subservient to their rulers, to Advent. They might as well be robots. They are only used for killing humans, that's their only purpose, it's all they will ever be good for"

"I would disagree with that, Elena" I dismissed. "They aren't robots. And you have to have some respect for Kassara if she went against her ruler to rescue me"

"Do you not got scared that she will turn on you in an instant?" she questioned again, though this time a lot harsher than before. "Tell me, that there hasn't been an instance in which you thought she would try and kill you"

"I…" I began to immediately dispute, but it was easy enough to remember her attempted attack on me, how close to death she brought me. I couldn't lie, so instead, I let the question hang, unanswered. She brought the binoculars back up to her eyes, returning to the task at hand.

"See? Even you don't trust her. The one she saved. You just feel you owe her something because of it. So that's her game, blackmailing X-Com for information?" She hypothesized, continuing her line of questioning. I had to refrain from immediately contesting her, instead smiling inwardly at how incorrect her accusation was. I knew that I owed her nothing at this point. Though, thinking about Kassara at this point was opening a bag of mixed pebbles. I must admit, and I'm not sure whether it's just because I'm isolated, but I did miss her, along with most of the crew I regularly spoke with. But at the same time, the space from her felt relieving, due to recent occurrences, it felt a lot easier to completely ignore. A matter best left for future me. Probably best not to think about it.

"What makes you believe that?" I responded, having waited a while for her to scan the site again using the binoculars. "You don't know her"

"No, but I know Vipers. They are cunning, intelligent, and quick. They will try to outsmart you, outmaneuver you. They are cruel beings that value the Elders' will above their own, making them the perfect candidates for loyal servants to the Elders. It makes perfect sense for her to embed herself in X-Com. Just don't be surprised when your missions start to fail because they seem to know when you're coming." She muttered, turning back towards me. "The Elders have changed the species under their rule at will with severe gene mutation, they turned them into humans at one point; thin men. But they didn't stop there. Let me ask you, why do you think they have breasts on them? They're reptiles, they have no use for them. And don't give me that crap about how it stores venom, I've killed, and eaten, enough to know that they are nothing more than for show."

"She told me it was an accidental mutation from the human DNA they have in them" I defended.

"Of course she did, she's lying to you!" She hissed sharply, keeping her voice down still. "They were given them on purpose to confuse the human race. Make an 'attractive' species to help rule over the humans, it fucks with people. Same with the Archons. It humanizes them and adds to the whole charade they play. Same reason they made the bloody Sectoids more humanlike. They used to look like little gremlins you could just kick. Now they're taller than most humans and stand completely upright. It's all there to mess with your head, to get inside it" She ranted, keeping a relatively slow pace of her speech and purposely not getting worked up. Her arguments were certainly thought-provoking, at the very least. It started to piece together how the Elders attempted to play mind games on the human population.

"Have you ever thought that the Vipers are just as deceived as the human race, only better, as it has been going on for a longer period of time?" I asked as a response, providing the argument to her series of beliefs. "It's not like she ever trusted us or acted like this right from the beginning. She watched Advent spread false information to satisfy the masses of people watching, watched them lie to everyone, kill unarmed people, the works. It was only then, and the fact I was in prison, that she decided she wanted to help us. I didn't trust her at first, but she went into that prison alone, and came out with me."

"…" She paused seeming to give it a little consideration before shaking her head. "It's all a bit too perfect, no?"

"No, it's not. Look we never used to get on whenever I guarded her, she always had a penchant for Brick, but constantly tried to just pick fights with me," I snapped back, shuffling my sitting position slightly so I was more comfortable. I didn't realize how awful it was to just sit still for several hours a day.

"There's no making you see how dangerous she is. She'll slip up eventually. I'll make sure of it" She finished, unraveling one of the documents she had brought with her, the fifth prison complex. I rolled my eyes at her threat as I sat back and watched over the grounds down below us, my thoughts not corresponding with my eyes, but just thinking of Kassara. She needed me at the Avenger, I would just have to find a way around what happened, to try and smooth things out. It wasn't _that_ bad, was it? I couldn't leave her to have Elena bore down on her uncontested. But, in fairness to Elena, though she still harbored her own resentment for Kassara, for Advent and the Elders, she didn't seem to treat me badly, considering I held a completely opposing viewpoint on the former. Maybe I had done enough in the battle a week back to earn her respect a little. I don't know, a week spent completely with her and I still didn't have her figured out. She remained almost as mysterious as she was when I first saw her.

"When are we going to head off?" Angel interrupted the silence after a few minutes, breaking me out of my thoughts. I should have been paying attention and looking down at the prison complex, but it had just become such a chore over the past week. Elena seemed to handle it fairly well though. "We may want to leave soon if we want to get to the next prison while it is still daytime" He explained.

"We need to watch for a few more hours, at the least. We will move by night, and set up camp when we reach there" Elena decided quickly, earning a grumble from Angel, barely audible.

"We don't have our stuff with us, how are going to set up camp?" He asked.

"There's a small, old Reaper base on the way. Assuming it hasn't been found, it should contain something to keep us warm. And we have our coats" Elena answered, shifting slightly to turn towards him. "We may need to go back to visit the other prisons again, so the less time we spend traveling between prisons, the better." She glanced towards me as she finished her sentence. I didn't know whether to try and defend myself again for her earlier issue, or to laugh at the fact she didn't trust my word on it. She obviously didn't' trust that I would have seen any movement at the other prison complexes. Which, while I could say may be fair if I had been acting like I had today all week, but part of the reason I was so bored is that I was paying a lot of attention on the previous days. I 100% would have seen if there was an important figure in any of the other bases. Alright, maybe like 95%, but the lack of trust still felt a little unfair.

As if on cue, and before I could make a reaction to Elena, a bright purple light shone from the prison, a swirling pillar shooting up into the sky, but only for half a second, but it was enough time that all three of us saw it. The destination of the pillar was out of our sight, unfortunately, but we all knew that it meant this was the place. We all stood in wonderment for a brief moment, before Elena got straight to work.

"That's them, alright" Elena confirmed. "We'll need to go back to base to get our supplies, and radio back to the Avenger, but the presence of one of the Elders warriors is more than enough proof Mox is here." She ordered, pulling off her bag that was currently on her back, handing it to me. I quickly unzipped the bag, as she chucked in the intel and binoculars, as well as her water bottle.

"Which one do you think it is?" Angel asked, as he got to his feet. Elena paused for a moment, looking back into the prison, before turning back to answer.

"I hope it's the Assasin. If the Mage appears, I don't think I would be able to resist shooting him" She hissed her response. "He's taken too many of us, it would be my duty to make every attempt to avenge the fallen"

"He hunts the Reapers?" I asked, watching as she snapped around to look at me. Her eyes were enough to show her anger, her hatred of the being.

"He doesn't just hunt us. He murders us. He takes pride in our deaths. We are not an enemy to him, we are trophies for him to show off to his masters. He spawns in armies of the undead, the unreal, like spirits. We can hide from a few people, but with enough of his zombies running around, they will find one of us eventually. Hiding isn't an option. But it's what we are used to, it's how we operate. He can punish any mistake we make, and escape is not an easily attained opportunity. And I fear it is going to get worse, as he continues to learn how we operate." She sighed, telling us his legacy, clearly struggling as she explained, but doing so without breaking composure, though her words made her sound like she was going to. "Mox faces a similar evil. I can only imagine the terror of the being the skirmishers face. They need our help, as we do theirs. I hate to admit it, but this isn't something the Reapers can face alone. We have tried. Why do you think I wanted to join with X-Com? With the Commander's help, we took down the Chosen, however brief our victory was, it was a victory against them. More than I've witnessed before"

"...Sorry" I murmured, unable to console her in any other way, slinging the bag onto my back, and readjusting my hood as it had slipped slightly to one side.

"I don't want, or need, your pity" She snapped back, taking the lead away from the compound. It was short trek through the forested hillside, but the path we took would take us down quite quickly. The sun was still up, so we had a few hours to get back to camp before it was pitch black, and my rumbling stomach made sure to remind me that I needed to eat as soon as we got back. It was amazing how much of an appetite I had gained by simply walking around for a few hours a day.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 12:37 EST 5/02/2035, location: Unknown)

It had been fairly quiet since Zero left, though the ship had certainly not been still. We had moved every couple of days, Brick said it was because we were scanning nearby areas for supplies, but the teams that went out to explore anything the Avenger found never included me. Firehawk said on one they went to, they found a Sectoid, which was the source of the life signs in the middle of a remote area, in an abandoned structure. She said it was perishing, it looked like it had wasted away, even more so than the normal Sectoid. I didn't know much about what she meant by normal Sectoids looking 'wasted away', but I didn't ask for any clarification at the time.

But, whilst it had been quiet, I had also received some good news from Bradford, that I didn't need to stick around with Brick the entire day now, and I could move around the ship as I wished, too the extent any other soldier could. I could tell by the way he phrased it at the time that he wasn't entirely okay with it, but the decision had been made regardless of his thoughts on the matter. Not that it actually changed much, as I still only really talked to Brick and ate the meals with her. The only difference is I could now go to the firing range as I pleased, without forcing her to join me for the duration of it.

I didn't have the same need to practice as I did before, when I needed to make sure I was ready to go out on a mission, but I still enjoyed being able to fire the rifle off a bit, it was stress relieving. I never got the option when I was a guard for Advent either, just the training we received every year to make sure we could still shoot a moving target with moderate accuracy. But, whilst I felt I didn't need to practice my aim, I definitely needed the stress relief. That was the main reason I came here at the moment, is because I wanted to take my mind off of something, and bad.

It's not that I entirely tried to avoid thinking about it, though. I had spent enough time trying to find a way to talk to Zero again, find some sort of sentence in their blasted language that would not just kill any chance I have at reconciling with him. He was someone I truly thought of as a friend, willing to drop what they had to help me, with whatever happened. I wanted him close to me, I wanted to just spend more of my time with him. But I don't think there was a way with their language for me to explain this, without me scaring him off in the process. They were too...finicky, with their own language. though, even in my own language, I would not find the correct words easily.

And he's been gone for 8 days now, 8 days of me overthinking those events. I don't even know why I thought that it was a good idea, not that I remember the thoughts going through my head at the time, much. All I remember is that I thought that he wanted it, I was so sure of myself with that fact. I just thought that that was the correct thing, that it was just going to happen. Of course, it only takes one a moment to think back to my escape attempt, and draw the similarities between the two events, he was just as equally disturbed by it then as he was 8 days ago. Whether it was because I was a Viper, or for any other reason, it didn't matter. I fully understand if it was the first: Humans still looked odd to me, or, well everything did to me. Namely their legs, I didn't understand how they operated or felt, but it was beside the point. I knew that despite my thoughts on humans, my drunk self still decided that I wanted it. I didn't even know what I wanted. A part of me is curious, one could say. But that's all it was, curiosity. And only a small amount it, which was just brought out by the alcohol, which, by the way, I'm never going to have again, to avoid a repeat incident. I don't need to give him another reason to avoid me.

"Hey, Kassara, why am I not surprised I'd find you here?" A voice behind me snapped me out of my daydream. I whipped around the face the person behind the voice, the door closing behind Echo as she started walking over to me.

"Huh?" I responded absently, not fully listening to her question due to listening to my thoughts more than paying attention to anything around me.

"You spend like a couple of hours down here a day, at least. Just making the observation" She assured, taking a seat by the side. "Since when did you use conventional weapons?"

I looked down to the weapon in my hands, the traditional assault rifle that the human used to use, before they got them upgraded to the magnetic weaponry. Truthfully, I love the recoil, the loud noise it made. All the better for distracting me.

"I just wanted to give it a go. It interests me" I responded. While not necessarily the main reason, there was some truth to my statement. The difference in the firing mechanisms was interesting, the mechanical energy not being dissipated made the gun recoil directly backward, so you could feel the force you were hitting your enemies with, at the cost of the gun's accuracy. The magnetic and plasma weapons discharged the kinetic energy evenly in the perpendicular direction, providing less kickback.

"Of course" She smiled back, still just watching me.

"What is it you want? You said you were looking for me?" I asked, turning back around to the range. The weapon I had in my hands was unloaded, I had gone off into the daydream when I stopped firing, I hope I wasn't out for too long.

"Look...It's been 8 days and you're still acting funny. Could you just tell me what's up?" She asked, sounding a little tired, as if I was playing a game with her.

"What do you mean 'what's up'? Nothing's up"

"You spending half of your time in here and the other half sitting distractedly with Brick and responding to everything with a grunt is not 'Nothing', Kassara. Look, I've told Brick cause..."

"You told Brick?!" I interrupted her, snapping around from the range, accidentally not reaslising I was holding the weapon, now loaded, in her general direction.

"Watch where you point that thing!" She immediately called out, ducking away from where I was pointing it. I quickly put it back on the desk, but I wasn't going to ease up.

"Why did you tell Brick? Nothing's going on, I don't need two people being overly-inquisitive into my life" I retorted, folding my arms across my chest defensively.

"Because she knows you better than I do, I was hoping she could shed some light on the situation." She explained. I wasn't gonna let it slide.

"There's no situation!" I defended vehemently. "You're just being unnecessarily nosy"

"Well, yes, but I'm not being nosy behind your back or anything. I'm being nosy to try and help you Kassara. Something's happened between you and Zero and I'm just trying to sort it out" She conceded, standing up from her chair now, pacing over towards me. I kept my eyes firmly set on hers as she closed the distance, but I stood still, not giving her any ground. "The last thing you want is Zero coming back and the whole situation being more and more obvious to everyone on the ship. The sooner we sort it out the better, yes?"

"..." I hesitated, seeing if I could think of anything to tell her that wouldn't get me kicked out of X-Com, that wouldn't turn the entire ship against me, to get her to stop questioning me about it. 'I tried mating with your squadmate' just didn't quite have the right ring to it.

"Kassara, we have a mission" A new voice came from the door to my right. I turned around to see Ruby peering through the door, holding it halfway open, signaling me to follow her. "Hope I wasn't interrupting something special here" She winked, the cocky smirk adorning her face once more.

"No, not at all" I greeted, almost audibly breathing out the breath I didn't realize I had held. I glanced back to see a glare from Echo, looking visibly annoyed by the presence of Ruby. I saw her turn back to the range and grab my loaded rifle as we left. Guess she was gonna go for some stress relief too. Once we had left the range and we were out of earshot, I asked her about the mission we had coming up.

"You know the Reapers and Skirmishers, right?" She started. Yeah, I didn't need reminding. "Well, they're not the only resistance groups out there. We're trying to get into contact with two more, but they're proving difficult to communicate with, or locate, for that matter. We only know a bit about the first group, the Templars. They are very secretive and fight the Elders by using psionics. But we don't know anything about how they operate, where they operate, or where they are located. But they have contacted us recently, said they need our help. Bradford's not told us much, but it sounds like Advent found them before we did, so now they need our help." She gave me the breakdown of the mission. I would assume Bradford told her most of this, I didn't dare ask how she got the information otherwise.

"Just what I need, another resistance group to join us. The Reapers are bad enough" I sighed, earning a snicker from Ruby.

"You and Elena still having your lover's tiff then?" She said after she finished her small laugh at my expense.

"If you want to call it that, then yes. I wouldn't call her wanting me dead a 'lover's tiff', or whatever that is" I said back sharply, causing Ruby to sniff at my attitude, but deciding to leave it alone at that. We walked the rest of the way in silence, save for the sound of her boots hitting the floor, and my tail sliding along it. Walking into the armory, I saw the rest of the squad that was going, a full 6 man squad this time, plus Shen fiddling with something on the work bench. Firehawk, Brick, Goblin, and Twitch all getting their gear on, checking their weapons, and adding any extra attachment they needed. Twitch was the male rookie, who had thrown himself at Goblin to stop him shooting me. He got the nickname recently because Brick surprised him by sneaking up behind him, and he fell out of his chair, in front of pretty much everyone.

"Kassara!" Brick greeted with a wave of her arm, drawing everyone's attention to my arrival. I could see Goblin's face turn to one of disgust before he turned away and back to the task he was doing beforehand. I got a quick wave from a few of the others though, save for Venom, but he didn't really know me.

"So, this'll be your first mission, huh?" Twitch offered, putting on his armor. "Funny coincidence, it's mine too"

"Well, yes, I guess it's my first proper mission with a squad" I agreed. "I'm looking forward to helping X-Com. I want to make a difference"

"Shut up" Goblin growled from behind me. "Don't believe her, rookie"

"Piss off" I retaliated to Goblin quickly, snapping round to face him. I was only really exposed to this kind of vulgar language on board the Avenger, but it did a great job of letting people know how I felt concisely. Brick quickly intervened, shooting Goblin a look that looked like she was giving him a warning, as she pulled me away from him.

"Look, you put your differences with Goblin aside for this mission, or we're gonna have a problem. Don't let him wind you up, just ignore him. I'm not letting you two stop us from completing a mission" Brick told me, slightly more cheerful than her words dictated, as she turned me away from Goblin, placing a hand on my shoulder to do so. I let out a huff, but knew that I needed to listen to her, the last thing I needed to now was to make myself seem untrustworthy. I need to show that I am a soldier of X-Com first, and a Viper second. I headed to my desk, where Shen was waiting, and I grabbed my rifle, causing her to look up from what she was doing, which I could now see was fiddling with the rest of my armor.

"Good afternoon, Viper" She chirped, standing back from the desk. "Just...fixing a couple of things with the armor. Mostly to do with trying to find a way to implement a headset onto them. I know that Vipers hear by picking up vibrations, so I would assume that the normal sensitivity of our headsets should work...but I need to find a way to attach it to the armor, without it being to revealed, or it could be damaged by gunfire, or to make it uncomfortable to wear. I'm going off on a little tangent, but you get my point"

"Thank you, Shen, I appreciate your help, as always" I quickly thanked, peering over at the changes she had made to what I wore. The greaves and shoulder plates looked untouched, and so I proceeded to attach them first, making sure they still moved fluidly with my arms. The hood armor seemed to have a small extension at the end, it must have been the headset, as such, but it looked like an additional piece of metal that just hung down the side of the armor. Let's hope it worked. I twisted my body around as I put on the hood and back armor, covering the majority of my back and neck now, it felt like proper protective gear. Indeed, as I had speculated, the small extension lay against my scales down the side of my face, to the left of my eye, and down almost to my mouth. I could feel my sense of pride return, as the familiar feel of the gun, and the awe of donning my armor reminded me that I couldn't wait to fight for X-Com, to play my part, and not just sit aboard the Avenger causing fights.

"Alright, Soldiers" A deep voice beckoned our attention towards the door of the armory, the figure of Bradford stood waiting for us to listen. "I don't know what to expect going into this mission. We have received a transmission, it's quite broken up, but we think it's from the Templars. The coordinates they sent came through, so we're either walking straight into a trap, or we have a chance to find one of the most elusive groups of fighters there is out there. Led by Geist, the previous leaders of the Templars used to be X-Com personnel, before our downfall. They have since stayed separate and refused to answer our attempts to reach out to them. So something must be going wrong for them to accept now. Go in, support the Templars, and get out, we will see where we go from there"

"Yes, sir" Goblin promptly replied, beating the chorus from the other soldiers saying the same thing, before the soldiers headed to the Skyranger. I followed suit, falling in behind Twitch as we boarded. I made sure to sit far away from Goblin, who now refused to make eye contact with me, his hulking form hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees.

The journey over wasn't silent, but I ended up tuning most of them out, my thoughts inadvertently wandering back to Zero, again running through more scenarios. It must have been 15 minutes before repeated callings of my name by Brick snapped me out of my daydream.

"Kassara!" She bellowed, raising her voice well above the sound of the engine, before she saw me turn towards her. "Show Ruby your weapon, she wants to see it" She ordered. She must have been talking about her gun, knowing her, and managed to steer the conversation towards me.

I grabbed the weapon from beside me, handing it delicately to Brick, who held the weapon up for Ruby to see, showing her the sleek barrel design, and showing her how the gun changed between the fire modes. The expression of Ruby I could only describe of as in awe, she looked speechless at what I was wielding, to the point where I may call it jealousy.

"Damn...who did you have to give favors to in order to get this..." She said airily, still managing to make her insinuating jokes despite clearly being taken aback by my weapon.

"Shen made it for me, but she did so whilst I was away on a mission" I responded professionally, but Brick was quick to add on her own interpretation.

"You know, I heard Shen asked specifically for the anatomy of a Viper, maybe there is an ulterior motive there..." She laughed

"Didn't know Shen was inclined that way" Ruby grinned along with Brick, handing me my weapon back, which I gladly accepted, putting on the other side of me, away from her. I could tell Brick was enjoying laughing at my unease, but I just decided to let it slide over my head.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and snakes, drop zone is ahead. Get ready to go" The pilot called out over the comms, simmering the laughter between Brick and Ruby down. I would be first out, but I knew I was fairly slow, remembering back to last time. I sighed, grabbing my weapon in my left arm, ready to hoist myself down the rope. The dropship opened up the ramp, the ship descending lower and lower, exposing the surroundings, consisting mostly of trees, as if in a forest, but I could see quickly that some of the trees were on fire, the smoke coming up from a particular area, which we were getting closer and closer to.

On the signal of the pilot, I grabbed the closest rope, getting into position and slowly, painfully sliding down. The rope ground against the scales of my tale to the point where I could feel them burning just over half way down, my hands not faring much better. I was recoiling by the time I hit the ground, the rest already landed, waiting for me.

"Take your time, hun, we're not in a rush" Ruby joked again, earning my glare. I was not in the mood to be told I was too slow when I was physically hurting from trying to be quick. As we approached the fire and smoke above, it was possible to see structures come into view; tall, black structures which matched the top tree line, forming several buildings.

"Hey!" A hushed voice called us from our left, from one of the smaller buildings. The ground between them was paved over with some sort of black material, that seemed like a metal, but not quite. The figure wore some sort of clothing that looked similar to our kevlar vests in terms of protection, but covered his entire body, mostly a dull purple color with slightly brighter purple highlights. It wasn't the most discrete clothing, by any means. He wore a silvered helmet with a purple ring on top, like a single seeing eye.

"That's the Templar" Firehawk announced to the group, leading the dash over towards the cover he was hiding in. The building must have been about 2 stories tall, but not too large in terms of length and width. I was impressed by the structure, it seemed to be fairly grand, yet it would be completely hidden by the tall canopy above it, it must have been next to impossible to see from above. No wonder they weren't discovered by Advent. I could just about make out movement further ahead, I couldn't make out individual targets, but there was definitely a fight going on. As we approached the Templar, he quickly addressed us, not waiting for introductions.

"Which one of you is a Sniper?" The man asked.

"At your service" She responded, holding up her Sniper for confirmation. He turned around and pulled her forward with him, before raising both of his hands and waving them slightly in the direction of the battlefield. Before any of us could ask him what he was doing, a purple light enveloped Ruby, as she lifted off the ground slightly, before a flash appeared before us, forcing us to look away. When we looked back, there was no sign of Ruby, but instead, a second Templar, one garbed with yellow body armor, his arms, revealed slightly from the elbow to halfway towards his shoulder, had purple vein-like markings on him, almost coming out of his skin.

"X-Com, thank you for your assistance" He greeted sharply. "We're under attack by Advent, they've burned through most of the compound, but we need to salvage what is left. They cannot have access to our materials..."

"What have you done with our Sniper!?" Goblin interrupted, shouting at the new figure appeared before us.

"No need to worry about me, darling" Ruby's voice came over the comms, calm and relaxed.

"I have exchanged myself with her, she now has the most advantageous position to fight the enemy. Follow me" The yellow armored Templar explained, seeming to take no umbrage with Goblin's outburst, as he began the run towards the fight. As we got closer, the battle was more obvious. The Advent troops seemed to outnumber the Templars 5 to 1, Vipers and Sectoids were also present, in order to help control the battlefield. I could see a Templar hidden behind some sort of energy shield they had erected from the ground, firing around the side with a small automatic firearm, the bullets whizzing past troopers as they closed the distance. Before they could get any closer, 3 Templars dashed towards the group, seemingly unarmed, but their fists erupted into brilliant purple lights, blades seeming to extend out in front of them as they slashed at the troopers, each trooper falling to its respective attacker, seeming to let off a similar purple energy, absorbed by the Templars, before they dashed off, back towards cover, before they could be targeted.

"Did...that just happen?" Brick asked, astounded at what we had all seen, saying the words all of us were thinking, but hadn't said.

"I can explain later, we must fight" The Templar dismissed readily. "I will leave you to your Commander, they know what is best. We need to retake the atrium, that is our primary goal. We cannot leave it in Advent hands. Your Viper may want to watch her back, I appreciate the armor is an obvious difference, but until I'm able to pass around the word to look out for you, a member may mistake you for the enemy" He warned.

"We shall need to fight separately at the beginning then. We need to play to our strengths" Bradford's voice came over the comms. It was not crystal clear, but I could hear him fine, and make out his words. Shen did do a good job on the receiver, at least. "Let's take a flanking route, hopefully, it'll open up some angles for the Templars, and Ruby, to take out the targets."

I watched as the Commander gave each soldier their orders, even though we were not in battle yet, he positioned the team around each other, sticking mostly to high cover, keeping me near the back, whilst Goblin stayed near the front, concealed from the enemy. I could only guess the atrium was the largest building near the center of the compound, concealed by the tallest trees in the forest, though it looked to still be quite a way off from our position. We had a lot of ground to make up.

We kept moving through the compound, straying from the black metal walkways in favor of the quieter, well-kept grass around the outskirts, going around the back of a few small buildings, all of a similar style to the one we saw first; sleek, mostly black, and grandiose in design, even though the buildings themselves were relatively small. The similarities between the houses lead me to believe that they were for accommodation, though the lack of windows prevented me from checking this readily. We kept moving up until we came across our first enemies, called out by Goblin as he approached their position under the Commander's orders. The squad seemed to be making their way over to where we had come from, to the fight with the Templars, 2 Vipers and one of the Advanced Mecs, similar to the normal Mec, except the pristine white plating was now a crimson red color, outfitted with heavier weaponry, more explosives, and better armor. If they were deploying these things on the battlefield, we were going to be in for a rough time.

"Is that a red colored Mec?" Brick whispered into the comms. I would have liked to answer, but the group was moving, and we couldn't waste time. We were either gonna strike now, or not at all. The Commander ordered us all into overwatch, save for Goblin, who was relatively close to them, keeping himself concealed. I leaned around my cover, pulling my rifle up to my eye, holding the stock into my shoulder as I checked that it was on the 'Sniper' setting, and tracing the Viper at the back of the group, trying to steady my crosshairs over my target. I could see the helical pattern down her back, making a subconscious note that she wasn't a clone, but that wasn't changing anything about the outcome. I heard a loud snap as something hit the ground near them, causing the Vipers to instantly pause, lowering themselves to the ground in reflex. It was just enough time to line up my shot. I pressed the trigger, I could feel the familiar feeling of the slight recoil of the gun into my shoulder, as a thin beam of super-heated plasma shot forward and straight into the furthest Viper, throwing her body away from where she had just been standing, showing the force of the weapon I had in my hands. The second Viper dashed towards us, our group now revealed from my shot, but she hadn't spotted Goblin, and rushed straight passed him, finding a sword being swung at her, catching her just underneath the armor, stopping her movement as she staggered under the force of the hit, enough for a few rifle rounds from Venom to find their target, downing the Viper. The last target, the Mec, was met with a barrage of gunfire from the mag canon of Brick as it tried to close the distance, I could see plates of armor tearing off under the force of the attack. Unfortunately, the follow-up attacks from Firehawk and Twitch missed, the shots firing wide of the Mec.

The great red robot swiveled around to face his closest target, Goblin, and lowered its weapon, no sign of hesitation due to being outnumbered, it was programmed to kill. Goblin ducked behind the tree he was taking cover behind, but the rapid laser fire coming from the weapon of the Mec pierced through the trunk, some of the rounds hitting Goblin as he staggered under the hit.

"I'm taking fire" He groaned, recovering from the shots, as Brick was ordered to fire a second round at the Mec, this time the robot crackling and sparking under the sustained damage, toppling over as its systems failed. I breathed a sigh of relief, as my first engagement against Advent came to a close. It reminded me of the power I felt in my first fight, against the resistance troops, but it felt so much better now, helped by the advanced weapon I now wielded.

"They know we're here now. Expect company" Bradford reminded, as we again followed more orders to push up, starting to find ourselves back onto the metal walkways, each adorned with several sculptures and plants, plenty of low cover, but little cover that was sufficient to hide fully behind. It was easy to see the targets as they came into view, a group of 4, consisting of a Captain, two troopers, and a priest. I hoped X-Com had come across priests before. I had seen them being showcased by Advent, they imbued what appeared to be a human being with psionic energy, giving them the ability to manipulate their enemies, all through these enemies. The downside is that the troops were fanatical, they revered the Elders as gods because of their powers. I suppose, to them, in many ways they were. But their rituals seemed misplaced, certainly, on one of the posts I had taken guard, a priest there would regularly fall to its knees to utter a prayer in its weird language to the gods. In a similar fashion, the priest looked towards our group, clutching its hands to its chest, and then reaching up to the sky, as if offering its soul to the Elders above. The troops quickly found cover from us, just as we took cover from them, but it was not going to do either of us any good. The best thing to do here would be to get aggressive, make the first move, and the Commander did just that.

Brick and Goblin led the charge, closing down the distance and firing at the two closest troops, the Captain taking damage, but not falling, and the trooper avoided taking damage, currently hidden behind a sculpture depicting a Templar in an upright pose, with a leg lifted against its other leg, its arms raised above in the air.

"Viper, skirmish to take a flanking position" Bradford ordered. I was fairly close, and I could just find an angle on the nearby trooper, if I went to the side, taking cover from the rest of the troops, except the one I was flanking, but it is where I had been ordered to go. I switched my weapon to the automatic fire mode, the green plasma retracting from between the two prongs of my weapon, fading back towards the body of the gun. I dashed towards my target, keeping my profile low, and holding my weapon at my side, as the trooper gradually came into view, turning around, unprepared for my speed. I let a volley loose on the move, half of the spray striking my target, finding the kill. I saw the other troops move up, Firehawk taking her blade and cutting down the Captain, before repositioning to find better cover. Her speed almost rivaled mine, but I would like to think I was faster, just. Venom let the gremlin fly towards Goblin, a blue shield forming over its target. I watched in amazement as the field began to blur my vision towards him, it looked like he had even moved slightly to the left.

The remaining troops attacked, regardless of the fact that they were already two down, the trooper pushing up to flank Goblin, and the priest coming closer, finding full cover to get behind. I couldn't react in time to stop the trooper, but despite the fact that the target he fired at had no cover, the shots all fired wide, I'm assuming due to the blue field that lay around Goblin. Our orders came through the comms, I was to shoot the Priest as Brick removed the cover, and the others were going to deal with the Trooper. I scoped towards where the Priest was hidden, waiting for the explosion, but the moment I saw a swirl of purple energy come from the pillar, I whipped around to face Brick, the light gripping her, lifting her very slightly in the air, as if possessing her. I was right, as Brick immediately turned towards Goblin, the field now no longer on him, and prepared to open fire. I reacted quickly, ignoring the priest, and quickly shot my tongue forward towards Brick. It always felt weird grabbing a target, especially if they were heavy, it was difficult to drag them, but our tongues were fairly strong and could deal with it. As soon as I felt my tongue wrap around Brick, I pulled back with my entire body, as she hurtled towards me, barely catching herself on the ground near me. I could see the purple raging in her eyes, not the eyes of Brick, but those of the Priest. I didn't hesitate and wrapped myself around Brick, despite the hard armor, I could squeeze down on it, forcing her down to her knees, powerless to do anything.

I heard immediately curses in my ear from Bradford, as he quickly ordered the rest of the team around me. Venom pushed forwards, as the two rangers rushed down the Priest. He was quickly overwhelmed with the two large sword-wielding humans bearing down on him, the two cuts more than enough to finish off the fanatic, as Venom fired his rounds, but missed the trooper, who now had a flank on half of our team.

"Ruby, take the shot!" Bradford called, and within half a second, a hot alloy round found its way into the helmet of the trooper, who had just begun to line its weapon back up to Venom. I breathed a sigh of relief as the purple fire gradually dimmed from Brick's eyes, and I could release her again, as she sputtered to regain her breath.

"Nice move, Kass" She grinned, from her knees on the floor, picking herself up quickly, grabbing her gun and quickly checking for any damage, satisfied it was okay, she reloaded and moved away, making sure she was behind cover. I smiled inwardly at myself, happy with my reactions to what had happened, but a relatively angry voice quickly sounded over the comms, for all to hear.

"Viper, follow orders and don't deviate from what you are told! We cannot have you put the entire team in jeopardy for one of your actions!" Bradford barked. "We don't know what's up ahead, we got lucky that there was nobody there to shoot at our Rangers! We can't take risks like that!"

"What?" I asked, taken aback completely by the eruption from my earpiece. I lowered my weapon as I tried to recover from the fact I was being told off for just saving the team. I just made a snapshot decision and it potentially saved Goblin, and they are upset with me.

"Stick to the plan, we told you to take a shot at the Priest, if Brick is unable to grenade the cover, you still go through with what we order. Deviations from what the Commander tells you to do will result in bad consequences for the team" He growled down the headset. "First warning, Viper, you won't get another chance"

"That's Kassara, to you, sir" I hissed back, watching as the rest of the team turned towards me, the judging eyes of Goblin glaring at me, Brick shaking her head very slightly at me, as if telling me to stop. I was tempted to take off the piece attached to my hood armor, however, I didn't know how, it would possibly just snap, and I couldn't risk that. "What I did saved the team, it was the correct move"

"What you did breached my plan, Kassara. No more" The Commander interrupted, their voice calm, unlike Bradford's, and had a sense of finality to it. I sighed, huffing, as I prepared to continue with the mission. I felt myself be enveloped by a sour mood as we approached, past the squad we had just defeated, towards a tall black building. This must be the atrium, judging by the golden linings and patterns on the front of the building, the ornate design decorating the front of an unfortunately now-damaged building. It looked to be several stories high, with the higher levels seeming to have parts of the building damaged by gunfire, or explosions, but sections were missing, and smoke came out of the top of the building. As we came to the foot of the building, I could make out Templars still fighting their way towards our position, the Advent troops beginning to dwindle. The flashes of the purple blades they could summon kept catching my eyes as they cut down their enemies, though the concentrated fire of the Advent troops was still taking a few down.

"Greetings" A voice called out from behind. I turned towards the source with my team, seeing the Templar from earlier, the one dressed in gold approach, His armor looked damaged, there was blood covering the left side of his chest. He must have been shot, but he was still standing. "We can't let the Advent troops regroup here, and they're going to as we're pushing them towards here and its the most defensible place here. I'll help you attack."

"I can get into the top floor from here, but the others will only be able to get in through the front" I added, making sure he was aware of all the options. He knew the building best, it would be good for him to have all the information he could.

"I see...Viper, you go to the top floor, I will assist you, while the others attack from below. I will need you to pull an enemy to the edge so we can see him using your tongue" He quickly formulated, spending very little time postulating, pointing towards the top to help explain where he wanted me to go. As he turned, I could see the burnt holes where alloys had entered into his back, the wounds must have cauterized, as I could not see any blood, but he had very clearly been shot multiple times.

On his signal, I aimed my wrist at the opening int he top floor, pressing the button to shoot out the thin wire. I could just about see it clasp onto the rubble, digging in deep enough. The motor mechanism quickly pulled me up to the top, and within moments I was stood in the top floor of the ornate building. Whilst the rubble had ruined this section of the room, the bits that remained intact looked amazing. Podiums lined the parts of the room, black orbs floating above each hypnotically, though strangely seeming to provide light to their surroundings. The room contained several fancy looking control panels, but I only had to guess from the raised purple keys, that only those with the purple psionic energy would probably be able to interact with it. The room was very large, enough to warrant using my rifle as a Sniper indoors. I couldn't stare for long though, there was a squad up here, a Captain, Stun Lancer and Trooper fumbled for their weapons, upon my arrival. I quickly pulled in the Captain using my tongue as I had been ordered, pulling him within a foot of me. But before I could wrap him up, he was surrounded momentarily by a purple light, seeming to shine from within, making me shield my eyes slightly. By the time I looked back, there was no longer a Captain there, but the Templar. Both Stun lancer and the Trooper opened fire, but the rounds were aimed at the golden figure to my right. I dashed for cover, but as the Templar tried to do the same, I saw the rounds from their weapons strike him. But he did not seem to falter. He didn't even seem to take the hit. In fact, the only way I could explain what I just saw was that the rounds just bounced back off of him, striking the Trooper in his head, soundless, the Trooper fell backward from the hit. The Templar continued his dash; he hadn't been running for cover at all. The large purple blades appeared from his wrists, as he slashed at the Stun Lancer, the psionic blades piercing through the Advent clone, ending its life.

"Wow..." Is all I could manage to utter, as he turned back around towards me, with the same sort of calm attitude, unphased by his own awesomeness. I looked back down out of the hole in the wall, the Captain had been swiftly dealt with by the squad below.

"All clear?" Brick called up to me. I responded by giving her the thumbs up, another human gesture I had seen the soldiers use to each other while on board the Avenger. I found it quite handy to be able to communicate to another purely using gestures. I could start to hear the radio chatter as the Commander ordered them into position. It sounded like they were going for a two-point breach, using one of Brick's grenades to blast a hole into the wall, whilst the others used the front. We had to get moving if we were gonna be able to meet with them.

I turned back to the Templar, who was currently stood over the body of the Trooper. He kneeled down by his body, and for a minute, I was scared that the Templars were just as fanatical as the priests, maybe with their own god they worshipped after they 'sacrificed' in their name. My worries were relieved, yet new ones appeared, as slowly, the purple energy slowly surrounded the body of the fallen Trooper, lifting it off the ground, seeming to pull something out of it, a soul, its past life, something, manifested in a humanoid figure above the Trooper, slowly materialising from the bottom upwards, the black boots materialising first, slowly followed by the remainder of the entity, clothed entirely in black. It wasn't until the helmet started to form, that I realized what it was, it was a direct copy of the Templar still kneeling on the floor, creating a template of himself and resurrecting that template from the body of the trooper.

"Wow..." I murmured for the second time, lost for words, as I watched the Trooper's body collapse to the ground, already used for its purpose, and now discarded. The Templar slowly stood up, both him and his apparition turning to face me.

"I don't have the time to explain" He responded, snapping me out of my stare, as I closed my mouth, which must have hung agape as I watched, shaking my head to recover from the shock of what I just saw. The entity drew its own autopistol from its holster, and started moving down the stairs. Right, we had no time to lose, we needed to clear the building. I darted after the ghost Templar, down the next flight. I could hear the gunfire from the floors underneath, so the rest of the squad was already breaching into the bottom floor. I could hear the comms erupting with orders, but I had chosen to tune most of it out as much as I could.

The next floor was thankfully clear, but the staircase had been blown completely, and the holes in the floor allowed us to see down, just as it allowed enemies to look up and see us. I barely caught it with the corner of my eye as I peered down, but the Viper was quick to realize that I was definitely not on their team. I leveled my rifle at the Viper before she could react, and fired. Unfortunately for me, I forgot I was still on the automatic mode, and only the first couple of rounds of plasma struck my target before she was able to dash to safety. Before I could move on, a small projectile beeping red found its way through the gap in the floor. I couldn't get away in time, and the blast took away the floor from underneath me as the shrapnel peppered my armor, pain erupting from my tail and arms. I collapsed heavily on the floor underneath, not bothering to count the number of enemies there were in the room, but they all had their guns pointed at me.

I heard the gunfire erupt around me, but glancing up, the golden Templar had landed beside me, having avoided the initial blast. He pulled up some sort of barrier from the ground, the same one I had seen one of the other Templars use, shielding me from their fire. He took a few rounds in the back, staggering forwards. The entity he had summoned dashed past us, and into the enemy group, slashing at one of the Vipers, the reptile going down immediately. The remaining Troopers, Captains and Vipers all fired into the black Templar, two Troopers falling to deflected shots, and the Templar seeming to block some of the other bullets by just holding its hands up. What were these mystical beings? They could fight entirely using psionic energy, they outclassed everything Advent had.

I got up from the floor, grabbing my weapon, reloading it and changing the mode back onto single fire, and turned my cover to fire at the nearest Captain, the red armor doing little to protect from my round, as he went down. I glanced back to the two Templars, both pushing their hands towards the last few Troopers, electricity flying out of each, jumping between the bodies of their opponents, frying them with the lightning. I must have stared a little too long, because a plasma beam from another Viper caught me in the side of my armor; the psionic barrier I was hidden behind just went down. I hissed through the pain, diving to find more cover, thankfully avoiding more shots. We had one side of the room clear, and there was just a few more left before we cleared it out. I glanced down to my side, the armor had protected me well, but the plasma had still managed to pierce through. I think it wasn't hurting too much at the moment, but I would feel it later. I saw the two Templars trying to get to cover before attacking the next group, but enough projectiles found their way into the black Templar, as the figure collapsed backward, before dissipating into purple energy again.

"We're pinned down" I informed into my headset, trying to make myself heard above the general chatter of the Commander giving orders, and Bradford barking extra directions at them. I tried to peak out of my cover to find a shot, but I was quickly met with return fire, I couldn't even get a look around at them, but there must have only been around 4 or 5, comprising of a Viper, a Captain and the rest Troopers.

"We're working our way up to you. Hold out until we get there"

I repositioned myself, holding the angle, waiting for one of them to approach. If they tried to flank, they were dead, but I don't think the Templars cover was going to last much longer. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He was bleeding, badly, from his right side, grasping onto it with his hands, staining his golden armor even further with his crimson blood. I needed to do something, we didn't have time to wait. I spat poison in front of me, using it as a smokescreen to avoid getting hit as I tried to move. I flicked back onto the automatic fire mode, and darted over to the next full cover, a small statue depicting another Templar, the smokescreen working to mistime their reaction fire, causing them to miss. The new cover I was running to gave me enough of an angle on one of the troopers that I could shoot him down as I reached my next cover. I flicked the switch back again, the green plasma filing down the barrel, steadying itself between the prongs again. I leaned out of the side of my cover, and used my tongue to pull the Captain towards me, before any more reaction fire could come my way. The Templar must have seen what I was doing, because immediately, he cut him down, approaching where I was stood and slicing through the Captain with his psionic blades. The blades cut their victims physically, as the blood from the Captain spattered over me, the murky green blood of a similar hue to mine. Shots were fired towards him, but he put his hands out, blocking the bullets from hitting him, before he repositioned. He was very fast across the room, they couldn't target him as he ran. I used the opportunity to peek around the corner, taking a shot at the other Viper. I realized too late that she was also aiming at me, not distracted by the Templar. Her shot whizzed past my head, as I fired my shot, connecting with her head, piercing through her hood as well, sending her backward, sprawling over the floor. I collapsed back behind my cover, trying to recover from how close I was to just dying there and then. If that shot had hit, I don't think I would have made it. I leaned my head back against the statue, whimpering softly to myself. I needed to focus, just get back into it. I peeked around the corner again, watching as one of the remaining two troopers slowly sank to his knees, his mouth hung agape in what I could only describe as pain. I glanced back towards the golden Templar, watching as a faint pink swirl of energy seemed to envelop his wound, which was completely visible to me from where I was, and it slowly seemed to just heal itself, magically. As if he hadn't been shot at all. What sorcery was this?

It was just the one remaining Trooper, and I turned my cover as I heard him make a dash for new cover, trying to find him before he could make it, but my shot fired wide, striking the wall behind him. A new hole to see outside from, at least. But my ally was quick enough to react to my miss, hunting down his prey, as he darted towards the Trooper, again, the bright flash of the blades being unleashed signaling the death of his quarry.

"Hang on Kassara!" I heard from the comms. "We're coming" Brick's voice shouted through the metal headset I wore. Goblin was the first I could see, dashing straight up the stairs from in front of us, behind where the enemy used to be holding, his gun ready, whipping it up to face the Templar, before lowering it, and just looking around at the amount of death in the room.

"You two did this?" He questioned, staring at us with perplexion, as the other members of the X-Com squad joined us, now that the all clear had been given. The Templar who had accompanied me drew his autopistol, firing at the Trooper on his knees, finishing off the last of our contacts, as he walked up to address the squad.

"Indeed. It seems it was not our day to die" He commented, looking back over towards me. "I couldn't have done it without the help, however. Your Viper units are very accomplished, if they are all as good as she is"

"She's our only Viper unit" Firehawk corrected him, taking her place next to Goblin. They both seemed to just been scanning the room, probably taking in both the damage and destruction, as well as the beauty of the room, or what beauty remained before it was blown apart by the battle.

"Oh? Then we will have much to discuss. It is obvious, no more than ever, that we are in need of help. We let the bliss of isolation blind us to the fact that we are truly outnumbered." He nodded. The way he spoke held some sort of...I wouldn't say authority, but it felt like he held himself on a pedestal above us, though I couldn't place my finger on it at all. I saw the little Gremlin fly over towards me, before I could see the dirty blonde hair of Venom peek up over the staircase, as he arrived with Brick, the only one missing now was Ruby. The Gremlin released the blue mist over me, the stinging sensation of the medikit on my wound immediately reminding me of the wound I sustained fighting Zero, but I quickly pushed the thought aside.

"So, who are you exactly?" Brick asked. The Templar chuckled briefly, before he put his hands up either side of his helmet, slowly removing it to reveal himself to us. His features looked almost perfect, symmetrical almost, with a shaved head, a featureless face in its entirety.

"I'm Geist, leader of the Templars" He announced. I couldn't help but just hesitate for a second. Not only had I fought alongside the leader of this resistance group, but I made a play that may have saved his life, by the looks of it. I had no clue at any point of his importance in this organization. I think he was watching for my reaction specifically, as he gave a small smirk in my direction upon seeing my hesitation, before he continued to talk. "We fight our enemies with their own powers. Through harsh mental and physical training, and intense meditation, one can unlock the latent powers of your soul. By mastering these forces, the Templars are able to go above and beyond the limits humans set for themselves. I must thank you for aiding the Templars, we do not rely on the help of others, where it is avoidable. But this attack shows how much we need allies at this point in time. You are not the only ones we have reached out to. We have contacted another faction in the area. We do not know who they are, or how they operate, but they seem to be very nomadic, they strike Advent where it hurts, quickly, and then disappear. They've gone under our radar, despite our surveillance, but the opposite wasn't true. We found a seemingly stray telecommunication, it seemed to be partially jammed. All we were able to decipher is that they were stating that they did not intend harm, and wanted to stay clear of us."

"With four resistance groups behind us, we could give the Elders more trouble than we ever could have before" Goblin reasoned. "It would be possible to organize more attacks than before, they wouldn't know where we are hitting them from"

"That's if they want to join you, Ranger" Geist quickly shut him down. "I have already sent a message on the same frequency, stating that X-Com wanted to help, and that they should unite with us, but there has been nothing back so far"

"When did you send this message?" Firehwak questioned, as if trying to find a hole in his story, her tone kind of accusatory.

"Oh, before I contacted X-Com. Once we knew that Advent was coming here, we decided to send out the messages. Of course, I'm glad I could count on X-Com to come to our aid. You help us, we will help you. It is mutually beneficial, no?" He refitted his helmet again, walking towards one of the blown out walls, staring over the compound, the sounds of gunfire now almost gone. There must have been a couple of stragglers left, but Advent had been defeated because they lost this defensive point. "I will pass along the message we receive, as soon as we get it.

"Well done squad" Bradford's words echoed from the receiver. "A good result today. The Skyranger will meet you at the front of the compound, ready for pick up"

"Aye" Brick responded into her microphone, holding her fingers to her ear briefly, before addressing Geist. "Our Commander will be in contact with you, then. I'm sure we shall see more of each other soon"

"Oh...one more thing" Geist interrupted, failing to acknowledge Brick completely. "As part of our newfound alliance, I only see it fit that one of our Templars joins with X-Com, maybe their skills will be of use to you. Your Viper can certainly attest to our ability on the field". Ugh, he was so full of himself. "I will have one of the recruits waiting for you at the front of the compound. Again, I thank you for your help, Advent will crumble under our cooperation, as they did today."

I felt myself finally relax, letting my gun sit in just one hand, as our squad headed out of the Atrium, and towards the front of the compound. My first real fight for X-Com...I don't think it could have gone any better. If only the Commander could have seen what I had done, if anybody could have, I think I would feel a little more complete inside. But I just felt a little tired, like I had strained myself both mentally and physically. I could finally let my thoughts just wander, and not focus on the task at hand. They rushed immediately to Zero, but I steered it away quickly. Instead, I spent my remaining energy counting the corpses of Vipers on the field. My sisters. Most of them didn't appear to be clones. It was not an avoidable outcome, I know...But part of me wishes that it had not been the case.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 19:37 EST 5/02/2035, location: Unknown)

Everybody was spending their time on the Skyranger on the way back quizzing the new recruit, the Templar. After regrouping with Ruby, who was boasting about how many Advent troops she had put in the ground during the fight, contending with Goblin who was claiming to have cut through an army, by the sounds of it. I had to chuckle at the competitiveness, even if only a little. But waiting for us at the pickup point was a small, lithe figure, wearing a brown version of the armor the other Templars wore, ready to join us. He said his name was Taiya, but Brick quickly started calling him Ty for short. Cue questions left right and center about what the Templars did, how they were able to have their powers, did he have powers. He deflected most of the questions, choosing to maintain a slight veil of mystery.

I was too tired to pay him any attention, exhausted from the mission, trying to focus on relaxing after all the adrenaline. It was still vivid in my memory, especially the fight with the Templar. I feel kind of special to have fought next to Geist...In hindsight, with the powers he had, it should have been obvious to me. I guess I was a little preoccupied at the time. And that small, small moment of realization that I could have died...I needed to fix things with Zero. Before I had the opportunity to get killed again. I think I finally made my mind up. I just had to go for it.

"Hey...Kassara, you ok?" Brick asked, her voice lowered and hushed as she spoke away from the others, placing her hands on my shoulder guard. "Look...whatever Bradford says...thank you, really, for doing what you did. I would hate to have the guilt of shooting a squadmate on my hands. Whatever he says, just smile and nod, but you did the right thing"

Fuck, I almost forgot about that. Even more reason to dread getting back onto the Avenger. "Thanks, Brick" I managed a meager smile back in her direction. "Sorry if I hurt you at all"

"You didn't don't you worry" She dismissed immediately. "Look, I need to talk to you as well when we get back to the Avenger, about Zero" She quickly glanced up to see if everybody was still paying attention to the Templar, which of course they were, Goblin and Ruby included.

"I asked Echo not to bother you with that" I sighed. "There's nothing, she's making a situation out of nothing" I crossed my arms, my left arm brushing against the new hole in my armor. The burn had gone through the undershirt as well, I could feel my own scales. I would have to get my armor off again and give to Shen to repair.

"Well, that's what I said to her, too. But I think she was on to something, ya know. You didn't really seem the same since the party, when you left with Zero" She mentioned, leaving the last sentence hang in the air, weighing down over me. I felt a chill go straight through my body, yet it felt hot and humid. An intense fear that Brick had already pieced it together came over me, the lump in my throat not leaving despite me trying to swallow it away.

"What?" I tried to feign my innocence of whatever she was going to accuse me of. "Literally nothing has happened"

"As I said, we'll talk when we get back, I don't like seeing you looking upset, is all" She gave a slight smile, before turning back to talk with the others, leaving me to fall back into my little slump.

As we returned to the Avenger, I winced as I saw Bradford waiting for us outside the ship, though he looked quite proud and content. I knew I was still going to get another reminder about my decisions on the battlefield.

"Welcome, to X-Com" He addressed, the moment the brown-clad Templar stepped foot of the ship, looking around the hangar in wonder. "It is good to have you here representing your group.

"The honor is mine. By the order of the Templars, I shall not let you down" He returned, giving a short bow to the Commander. He was going to annoy me if he had the same sort of priestly, ordained attitude that Geist appeared to have towards the end of the mission. He stood so much shorter than the rest of them, at least a couple of inches below Venom, who was the second shortest of the group, but he stood with a particular confidence about him.

"Of course. I will show you around the Avenger, and to your room, once I deal with a few things first. I will come and find you when I need you" He dismissed, turning to address the rest of the squad. "Well done on today's mission. Not only did we give Advent a fight they won't soon forget, but we've found a fast ally in the Templars. Geist sent a message to me himself about thanking you all for the help once more, 'particularly the Viper', to quote him. He's sent through the first of the communications he's got from a fourth resistance group. We will be scanning for their activity in the next few days, so I'm hoping we can find something on the same frequency band. Dismissed. Except for Kassara"

I held in my groan, but I could feel myself deflate at his words, as I watched everyone else filter out and into the armory. Brick glanced back to give a slight look of support, but it meant little at this waited until everyone had left the room, the door closed, just him and me. It was at this point that, despite the fact I was going to get an earful, I realized that I was seen as part of X-Com fully now. He didn't have any guards to protect him, I could strike him now, if I was so inclined, but it was a fleeting thought at best.

"You know what's coming, so I'll keep it relatively short" He began, he hands placed behind his back. His posture and demeanor were still relatively intimidating, despite the fact that I still looked down upon him because of my height. "If the Commander issues you an order, you try to follow that order to the best of your ability. If he asks you to do something, you do it. If something changes after he gives the order, you still follow through."

"Yes, sir" I sighed

"We can't afford to take a risk on each individual soldier. Imagine if each soldier did what they thought they should do, instead of what they were told to do?" He questioned.

"There would be no organization, it would be chaotic..." I answered, seeing where his line of questioning was going, it was to make me understand, rather than just to tell me off.

"Even if one of the decisions ended up being better in that instant, there's no telling what consequences that has. The Commander is the most qualified to decide what actions should be taken, not the individual soldiers. I appreciate you were trying to save a friend, but we can't afford to be changing the plan every second."

"Yes, sir" I repeated, with more determination behind it than my first. I'm happy it wasn't a telling off as such, though it still was, it was about helping me learn, rather than punishing me.

"Alright. Dismissed. Good work today, it is good to see you finally a true soldier of X-Com" He reassured. I turned towards him once more to see the faintest of smiles on his face. He meant it. He actually meant it. I glanced down towards the small hole in my armor from where I had been shot, I would need to get my armor back to Shen, so I needed to get a shirt to replace it with from my room. I suppose Brick would probably be waiting with Echo there. Regardless, I left the hangar with a slightly giddy feeling, one of satisfaction, like I finally found somewhere I belong. Unfortunately, I now had a Brick to deal with for the time being.

Upon reaching my room, my suspicion was proved correct, as Brick sat on her bed, talking to Echo, both turning to face me as I entered. My first instinct was to just turn away and close the door again, to deal with them later. But I fought back the decision, knowing that it was going to make things immediately worse, and I realized that that was also probably the case with me and Zero. If I hadn't just avoided the issue and confronted it it would have probably been better. Well, not necessarily better, but it would have been dealt with quickly, rather than let it eat away at me. I wonder if Zero had been thinking about it as much as me? Who am I kidding, of course he hasn't, he's been busy on his mission, and I didn't even know whether it bothered him as much as I think it's bothered me. I closed the door behind me, going to pick up one of my shirts from under my bed.

"You can't just ignore us" Echo started, responding to me doing what I had come in here to do.

"I'm not ignoring you. Speak" I responded kind of patronizingly, pausing only briefly from what I was doing, earning a smirk from Brick.

"All you need to do is tell us what happened and we'll leave you alone" Echo shrugged. "I don't see what's difficult about it"

"Nothing's happened though. Why don't you just wait for Zero to come back and he can tell you if something happened, cause I'm not aware of it" I said calmly, choosing a blue shirt out of the pile, refusing to put the rest of the back neatly. I'll do it later.

"I'm happy for that to be the case, Kass, but if there is anything going on, we can help you sort it out before it becomes an actual issue. I know you may feel we're intruding in on your life, but we're only trying to help you" Brick interjected, still sat on her bed.

"I don't need, or want your help with anything though" I snapped back. "Echo's just wants to make an issue out of nothing"

"Me? You made it pretty clear to me that something happened at the party" She accused again, crossing her arms as if fed up with me.

"I said nothing of the sort" I retorted, holding my position. I almost forgot about how painfully obvious I must have made it that something was wrong at that lunch. But I had no intention to let them catch onto any thread that would eventually unravel my story. I started undoing my armor, doing one side of the clasps first, before Echo commented quickly.

"Woah, what are you doing!" She exclaimed, turning away from me as she did so. Brick, knowing I had an undershirt on, had obviously not looked away, but I managed to catch enough of a glimpse of the side profile of Echo's face to see disgust as she looked at Brick. Brick must have also seen, cause she quickly averted her eyes to look back to Echo, giving her a 'what?' kind of look whilst shrugging. I continued taking off my armor, casting it to the side, left only in my undershirt now, as Echo closed her eyes now in a grimace, Brick grinning at her briefly. I put by shirt on again, just as Brick had taught me to do so to avoid it getting caught again, holding both the collar and the bottom in my hands so they were together, putting them both over my hood at the same time, before I bothered thinking about the arms.

As I turned back to face them, I saw them both exchanging glances, in a similar way to how Brick and Zero could. Echo glanced towards me, before looking back at Brick, raising her eyebrows and tilting her head forward. I found my head tilting to its side as I tried to figure out what it was she was telling Brick, but I couldn't hazard any reasonable guess. Brick opened her mouth slightly, as if saying 'oh', as her gaze drifted slowly from Echo to me.

"What?" I asked, tired of waiting for one of them to do something except have their own conversation

"I don't think so...there's no way" She said, obviously ignoring me, still eyeing me up.

"It's the only explanation. It makes sense. Why else would they not be wanting to talk to each other after a night out if that wasn't what happened?"

"Hey, tell me what's going on!" I snapped, moving forward towards Brick and Echo, as Brick's slight confusion started turning back into another grin, her eyes widening.

"Oh my god, that's exactly what happened" She murmured through her silly smile, unable to take it off of her face.

"Brick!" I said exasperated, trying to elicit any meaningful response from her.

"You had sex with Zero?!" She asked, though not in the way that begged a response. "I can't believe it, you had sex with Zero" She marveled, beginning to laugh. I saw Echo off to my side wear a conceited smile of self-satisfaction, though I'm not sure whether this was her being proud of supposedly finding out what had happened, or whether it was almost berating me for wanting to mate with Zero. Well, not that I wanted to of course, but according to her it was, anyway.

"What?! No!" I denied immediately, probably louder than I had intended, but it wasn't really much louder than Brick's laughter.

"Oh my god, it so is! No wonder you didn't want to tell Echo, geez, I'm so sorry!" She continued laughing, rubbing at her eyes repeatedly, grabbing her pillow in an attempt to muffle her laughter, but it was easily audible through the pillow.

"We didn't have sex!" I shouted again, causing Echo to laugh now, having refrained from doing so until now.

"I didn't think Zero would be into that sort of thing, to be honest" Echo joked, causing more laughter to erupt from Brick's bed.

"He's done a great job on building human-Alien relations" Brick sputtered between her laughs, the racket getting louder as they continued.

"Stop laughing, nothing happened!" I hissed, this doing little to stop them "Brick!"

"I heard he's running for that position in the Advent government. They say Vipers love him!" Echo chipped in.

"Stop!" I yelled, above their laughter, above their noise. "He rejected me!"

Their laughter died almost immediately. I could feel tears in my eyes, and I unfurled my fists, my scales being relieved from the nails digging into them. My chest moved in and out as I tried to catch my breath. I slumped down to the floor, resting myself in my own coils, and burying my face in my hands. I just told them...did they even believe it, initially? I'm such an idiot, can I not even handle a few words at my expense. I was sobbing into my own coils, and I could feel myself shaking slightly as I tried to remove the tears from my face, screwing up my hands into balls again and digging them into my eyes, dreading every moment that was going to come.

"Kassara...I..." Brick started, the bed creaking as she got off of it. I could make out her footsteps as she came over. "We didn't know...sorry, we were just teasing at what we thought was nothing" She explained. I felt her footsteps near me, but I didn't look up. She place her hand on the upper part of my tail, near where my head was, brushing softly along it. I heard more footsteps, lighter ones, that proceeded to head in a direction away from me, and my fears were confirmed true, as I heard the door open and shut.

"Kass, look at me, hon..." She hummed softly. She brought her other hand to the side of my head, trying to pull me up to look at her. I reluctantly obeyed, looking up at her, as she was kneeling down by my side. I must have looked like a sniveling mess, I was still crying. Her hand moved closer towards my face. I flinched away at the movement, but her hand slowed, gradually reaching my face and wiping away some of my tears. I couldn't control my face, my lower jaw was shaking, tensed, as I tried to refrain from crying again. I was stronger than this...I haven't cried...since...well, I can't remember. Apart from the night in question of course. Why the fuck do I have to deal with these emotions...compose yourself, Kassara.

"I'm sorry...really. I'll make sure Echo doesn't tell anyone, I promise" She consoled, speaking softly to me. "You've been holding onto these emotions for a while, it's good to let them out." She must have seen my attempts to stop myself crying, but I didn't care. I didn't want to cry, it was pathetic.

"I'm sorry." I apologized slowly, staring into her brown eyes. "I'm disgusted with myself, and I'm sure now you, Zero and Echo are as well" I hissed, my own anger mixing with my sadness, making my voice sound quite broken. "I understand if you're upset or angry with me"

"Yeah...I'll need a bit of time to think about it, for sure. Do you want to talk about it? Tell me what happened?" She asked. I paused, thinking over if I wanted to just tell her. I think at this point, it would only help my case and make anyone who knew hate me less, if Echo had already gone to tell others. I don't think it was a secret that was going to be kept that way for long.

"After we left, we went back to the room. We were both drunk...me possibly more so than him, I don't really know. I started being really sentimental or whatever with him, you know, because he'd looked after me with you. He just came really close to me, to comfort me or something. And my drunk self thought that he wanted to do it, so...I tried, but he stopped me and left" I explained curtly, choking back tears as I spoke.

"Alcohol is dangerous sometimes" Brick sighed. "I should have looked after you more, Echo was right. Look...I'm not sure how I feel about this. This is new area, right? But regardless, you and Zero need to make up. It's not good to be avoiding each other because of it."

"I know. I had a plan for when he got back" I explained, resting my head on the top of my tail now, near where her hand was. Pretty quickly, her hand left the scales of my tail, and scratched the top of my head very gently, her nails running over my scales. I couldn't place it, but it just felt good, and kind of reassuring.

"Saying you have a plan makes it sound a little sinister" She eventually joked, obviously having made the decision that it was okay to joke. I let out a small sniff of my amusement at her joke, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Yeah, I've just been thinking about what to say...to apologize to him for it. I didn't mean for it to...I'm not interested in him in that way. In any way. I was just drunk" I sighed. "But it's just been eating away at me for the past week"

Brick remained silent, instead opting to continue scratching the top of my head, though switching to using the palm of her hand, using long, slow, soft strokes. I also opted for silence, enjoying her company whilst it was here, it was reassuring to have someone with me, even though they knew my terrible secret. Well, one of them. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to tell her what had happened, so I could be free of another burden. But if the first one didn't end up with me getting thrown out of X-Com, then the second one was definitely gonna see me leave, if not killed because of it.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 02:32 EST 5/04/2035, location: West America)

It had been a couple of days since we radioed back to the Avenger about what we had found, telling him about the prison, its location, and the fact that there may be one of the Elder's hunters present. It took a while, but we got the all clear eventually. I think initially Bradford wanted to just pull us out because of the presence of the hunters, but something changed his mind. So we spent the entirety of yesterday studying patrol routes, entrances, escapes, the best areas to attack from, you name it, we had it covered. We returned to the temporary base we had to make one final stock up before we left to wait until the night, so we had the best concealment for our movements. I left the Vektor rifle behind, re-equipping the sniper rifle I was used to, since I had enough rounds to use for the escape. We were not planning to take long, in and out, undetected. We had a specialist to hack into the network, and we had all practiced with Elena staying silent, and staying hidden. So we each grabbed our respective cloaks, ready to enter into the prison. Elena grabbed herself another claymore, stocking up fully, ready to go. It was gonna be a harder walk to get there with the heavier equipment, but at least it would be the last night on this mission.

Elena had not been the person I had made her out to be from when I previously met her. She wasn't 'kind', as such, but she was still caring. She constantly checked if we were ok, if we had enough food, drink, etcetera. And whilst she wasn't the most engaging person to have a conversation with, she seemed to enjoy having a small chat every now and again, and never seemed to bring up our differences in opinion. It was more professional than friendly, to summarise, but due to her discrimination against the Viper, the picture I initially painted was quite a sour one. I'm glad I was wrong, in that respect, but it didn't change the fact that she couldn't tolerate the presence of an Alien on board, and we were going to clash more when that issue arose. Now, we sat outside the prison, waiting for Elena to give the go ahead, when the patrol was in the correct rotation for us to go in undetected.

"Alright...We know that Mox is probably located in the building near the middle-back-right of the compound from where we are. The plan is to take a wide berth of the compound, however, we still need to get inside the actual prison grounds, before we can make a wider arc due to the environment around the prison. Once we're in position, there will be a guard patrol that goes in front of the building, and possibly one inside, maybe two. We will try and sneak past the first one, but if there is any patrol inside, we may need to shoot and make a grab for Mox and run. Angel, your job is to hack that prison door, ideally with no alarm. Zero, you will stay behind me, in case we get into a fight, you'll get us out alive. Everyone understood? Good. Let's go" She instructed, as she slid down the bank in front of us. It was hard to see because of the limited light, but you could just make out the dust that kicked up behind her as she went. Angel followed suit pretty quickly, as I too joined them at the bottom, clutching my rifle to my chest, avoiding any damage to it.

"Alright, let's move out" Elena murmured, keeping her voice down, despite the fact we weren't near enough to the prison yet. We had spotted some patrols on the outskirts of the prison, walking outside the barriers that determined its perimeter whilst on lookout over the compound, so we still had to keep our eyes open. The ground around us was mostly flat, save for a few trees or rocks, providing minimal cover if we got into a fight, but it allowed us to find our enemies quickly. Ahead, we could see the first trooper heading away from us, continuing on his patrol. It meant we had got our timing right so far.

We continued towards the prison, towards the first line of barriers. We had to go around the watchtower, again staying far away enough that if someone was in it, they would have a hard time spotting us. I used now as a time to practice my soft step, moving more silently. It wasn't to the same degree that Elena could do it, but it definitely had a large effect. Whilst running, you sort of bounced, catching yourself by bending your legs as each foot landed, making your steps softer. Perfect for slipping into a prison compound undetected. The first tower out of the way, we no had to cut into the prison grounds, in order to avoid the patrol outside the grounds near the choke the small cliff created with the barrier. Elena was the first to hop over the barrier, the red light flickering slightly as she passed through. I hope it didn't bring any attention, though there were no patrols nearby to see it. Both of us followed suit again, styling the barrier with ease as we moved up, past the choke. Elena called us in to crouch behind the barrier, peering over it briefly.

"Patrol will be walking past in 3 seconds, heads down, stay silent" She muttered under her breath, barely loud enough for us to hear. I obeyed, not looking up to see the Trooper, and trying to listen to any footsteps, any clunking of their armored plates as they moved. I couldn't hear anything of note, but Elena moved us away about 10 seconds later, hopping back over the barrier so we were again outside the ground, where we could keep our distance a bit more.

Finally approaching our desired location, I could see the door that entered to the prisoner cells just in front of us, a 3 or 4 second dash at best, into the dark room ahead of us.

"Alright. This is it, no going back, understand? Move on my go, sprint straight across." Elena ordered, peeking over the barrier. I took a look myself, just before she leaped over the barrier, I scanned the surroundings. The building in front of us was the typical advent prison building, low, mostly black colored, and completely squared. The windows were barred by red lasers, you couldn't jump through them, unless you wanted to find out what they did. However, as I took a look around us, I saw the Viper guard near to us, looking in the other direction, stationary, her tail moving very slightly. I could feel myself lock up, and Elena made the run. I swear I willed my legs to follow, but they wouldn't go, I couldn't take my eyes off the Viper, I was frozen. I glanced over towards where Elena was, now stood in the doorway, waving her arm at me to come over. I shook my head at her to try and tell her I couldn't go. She looked both ways, before dashing back over, practically tackling me down to the ground as she leaped back over the fence.

"What are you doing!?" She hissed at me, I assume through gritted teeth, because all I could see was her mask in my face. "Get on your feet and run!"

"I can't" I quivered, I could feel my breathing becoming more erratic. "The Viper...She will see me"

"She can't see you if she's turned the other way!" She grabbed my armor, pulling me to my feet again, still somehow managing to make the entire action fluid enough to remain fairly quiet. I looked back over to the Viper, she was still turned the other way, and no other guard was coming around. "

"She will hear me. I can't do it, I will ruin the mission" I murmured, I could feel myself begin to twitch, my right arm specifically. I tried to shake my head, to try and just push my self to do it.

"You are currently ruining the mission. Get over the fence now, or I will shoot into the air and we can fight our way out" She hissed, pushing me at the fence. I gulped, taking a deep breath, and styled the barrier, telling myself not to look to see if I was spotted, and just to run remembering to reduce the sound as much as I could. I watched as the ground sped up underneath me, the surface blurring as I kept up my pace, I glanced up, to see the door right ahead of me, the finish line. As soon as I reached it, Angel pulled me down behind some sort of console, in the shape of an L, putting a finger to his lip. I was breathing quite heavily though, I wasn't able to quieten down. I glanced over the edge to see a trooper walking around the corridor, coming to our direction, but not quite close enough yet to hear me. Elena entered the door next, quickly taking note of the new threat, and dashing the other side of the door, so she was now on the outside, risking being seen by others outside. We waited as the Trooper approached closely, I was forced to hold my breath despite being out of it, managing to hold on long enough that the Trooper left back the way he came, my final exhalation of the stale air I held not loud enough to alarm him at all.

"Let's get moving" Elena mumbled as she came back inside, once the threat had dissipated. Angel left our cover to take position beside Elena as the searched for Mox's cell. These ones seemed different to the prison I was kept in. The corridors themselves weren't long and thin containing many cells on either side, but this was almost like an elongated room, not housing many cells, however. The cells themselves had translucent doors with the electronic locks on the front, it would be easy to identify which one contained Mox, and then to hack it open.

"Got him, he's in here...unconscious, by the looks of it. Angel, can you carry him?" Elena asked, pointing towards the cell containing Mox, still in his armor at least. He must not have been in a great shape underneath though if he was treated anything like I was. I saw Angel pull out the tablet, proceeding the hack into the electronic interface of the jail door. In the meantime, Elena and I waited in silence, looking out for any movement. The plan was to go out the other side of the holding cells, cross the barrier on the other side, and call out the Skyranger there, and hold our position until we got to the Evac.

"That Viper is gonna be out there again when we escape. I mean it, if you so much as hesitate because of it, I'll give you a much worse thing to be frightened of" Elena announced, keeping her voice down so as not to alert any of the guards we were here, but she managed to make it sound threatening enough regardless. I had the feeling that she would make good on her threat, and so nodded quickly to acknowledge it. "When we have Mox, you run straight for that barrier, you ignore whatever's around you. Head straight for the outskirts, and we'll get the flare in the air. The whole prison will come down on us as soon as we've done it, so we'll need to be ready to fend off the first wave, before the Skyranger arrives."

"Uh...Elena...slight problem..." Angel interrupted, turning away from the door. He seemed to wait for her to respond, though she was already waiting for him to speak, resulting in her snapping at him.

"Tell me then!" She hissed, watching as he made a double take towards the tablet again, before he recomposed himself.

"I'm not sure I can bypass the lock without setting off the alarm...There's a chance I will be able to, but a chance I won't" He explained, still kneeling by the door. Elena hesitated for a second in response, seeming to think things over, though you can never really tell with her mask on.

"What's the chance?"

"70% to open without setting off the alarm"

"Go for it then. We move now" She determined, heading over to our exit door, peering out quickly. "I will wait on the other side of the barrier, I can provide covering fire if the alarm goes off. Remember, grab Mox, and run out of here as quickly as you can. We can defend much easier from out there. I can get the flare up earlier also, so our transport will arrive quicker"

Finishing her sentence, she proceeded to dash outside, leaving just me and Angel. Angel continued tapping away at the tablet in the meantime, before making a final tap, wincing as he pressed it. The door unlocked, the red lock on the electronic pad switching to a green one. No alarm seemed to go off at all. He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and proceeded to open the door. The moment he cracked it open, the lights illuminating the corridor suddenly lit to a bright red, alarms wailing in our ears.

"Come on, let's get it quickly" I hurried, watching him hesitate at the alarms briefly. He obeyed, grabbing Mox and slinging him over his shoulder, before running for the exit. I glanced back, just in time to see the Viper turn into the building from where we had come, her rifle raised. I froze for a second, my legs beginning to refuse to cooperate again, but I had Elena's words in the back of my head, urging me forward. I turned, moving just in time to avoid the shot at me from the Viper, following Angel out of the door, and dashing for the barrier in front of us. I saw a blue flare shoot into the sky, indicating our destination. I didn't look either side of me as I ran straight forward, clinging my rifle to my chest, just focusing on Angel ahead of me, the bright lights of the prison illuminating us fairly well. I could hear the shouting of the Troopers around us, their funny language distinguishable. We had almost reached the barrier when I started hearing shots. I didn't look, I refused to, I just focused on the red ahead of me. Styling the barrier, I could see some of the shots landing either side of us as we were running, the dirt kicking up noticeably enough, despite the darkness of the night. At least we would be harder to spot past the barrier, the contrast in the light would have made us into literal shadows, especially thanks to the cloaks we wore. I heard a shot ring out in front of us, Elena firing at the troops behind us as they tried to follow. I allowed myself one glance back towards the compound, now we had almost reached Elena, and the timing of it must have been perfect, because as I turned, a new bright light illuminated us, a huge purple pillar shot down from the sky, just inside the complex, just behind the barrier, the unmistakeable humanoid form rising up from the ground.

"Fucking hell" Angel gasped in front of me, as we reached Elena. He set down Mox on the floor, finding cover behind a rock, as I found myself a tree, all plenty of good cover, assuming it doesn't get destroyed by any projectiles fired at us.

"That's the Mage..." Elena growled from where she was, using a small log to help steady her rifle as she hid behind it. "Out of anything that could come here, it had to be him"

"Come on focus, we just need to hold out and escape" Angel reminded.

"Not without taking his scalp! If he wants to take the fight to us, we will take the fight to him. Now's the best chance to show him we are not to be messed with!"Elena shouted, firing her rifle at the Troopers trying to cross over the barrier and close the distance. Without any warning, a very deep and measured voice sounded in my head, overtaking my thoughts, I couldn't ignore it.

"So this is the fabled X-Com soldiers? Making an effort to save one of theirs from the grasps of the Elders? Your willingness to sacrifice more for the life of one is foolish, and will be your undoing. Where my sister may have failed, I will not, for the Elders have granted me the powers necessary to stop you in your tracks!" The voice said. It was perfectly clear that the voice was coming from the being in front of us. I raised my weapon to look at him through the scope. His skin was a light shade of purple, his eyes glowing with a particular ferocity I couldn't place. But he looked aged, wrinkles over his face, especially around the smug grimace he wore, his messy shock white hair falling to his shoulders. I took my shot, the magnetic weapon accelerating the projectile towards him. It was on target, but he was quick, he moved out of the way, knowing the shot was coming.

"Ah ah ah, too slow" He growled in our heads, as he seemed to glow with a bright yellow light, his red armor forming new plates from the light, as if plating himself with extra material. I looked down towards the advancing troops, deciding they were better targets as they were higher threats, and started taking a couple of shots at them, slowing their advance across to us, as there was limited cover they could take.

"Hear this, I am the Elders most loyal Champion, and in return, they have given me their blessings. I am the fighter of their choice! I shall inflict the Elders anguish on the minds of their enemies, the fallen stand by my side in the aid of the Elders. Your defiance to the gods is foolish, and they demand your souls as sacrifices! I summon the spirits to fight alongside me, in the name of the Elders!"

As he finished his monologue, more purple lights shot up from the ground around us, as purple zombies raised from the floor, quickly advancing towards us. Angel took on of the three down before the could get to us, but neither me or Elena were quick enough. The zombies seemed to curl up slightly, the purple energy they were made up of seemed to intensify, getting brighter and brighter.

"Run!" Elena yelled, getting up herself and legging it further backward. I obeyed, leaving my cover and making distance, just in time to avoid the explosion behind me, swallowing up the tree I was stood behind, as the zombies erupted into a purple fireball, the purple flames of the detonation licking at my heels as I left.

The voice of the Mage laughed in our heads, a slow, deep laughter enveloped my mind, in mocking of us, and our attempts to stay alive.

"The Elders will have their way, and I will be the one to exact it upon you!" He taunted. He held his ground near the back, there was no way we could close the ground, we just had to escape.

"The Skyranger is here!" Angel called out, pointing up to the sky. The night made it difficult to spot immediately, but I could see it, just as the ropes came down to lift us out.

"Elena, we need to leave!" I called out to her, seeing her turn around to keep shooting at the troops closing in on us, only a few falling.

"Not without killing the Chosen!" She growled, reloading a fresh magazine into her weapon, before aiming again.

"Are you kidding? We can't even get to him, there's too many!"

"We hold a good position here, between me and you, we can take out the entire guard then get to him!"

"Elena, we cannot hold out against the Mage! Get your head out of your ass and let's go!" I yelled at her, heading towards the ropes, both me and Angel still providing fire support, trying to hold them back so she could get to us. Mox was by the feet of Angel, having been carried over by him.

"I have not got my head in my ass" She hissed, whipping around to face me momentarily. "I will have failed all of those that have fallen to this monster if I didn't try to kill the damn thing!" She turned back, shooting an advancing Stun Lancer down. The deep rumbling of more laughter from the Mage erupted in our ears again, his voice inescapable.

"I admire your tenacity, Reaper! I shall cut you down like your friends, no one escapes my grasp!" A new purple light shone from the being from the other side of the barrier again, this time warriors of the same purple essence that made up the zombies erupted from the bodies of the fallen troopers, the spectral soldiers resurrected from those we had already killed.

"I'm not going to let you ruin this mission, Elena!" I shouted back at her, trying to appeal to her by using her own words against her. I saw her pause, and look towards me. I could almost see the pain she felt in the gas mask eyes, just from the one look I could tell how awful she felt even considering giving ground to the Mage. "I'm not dying because of you, and I sure as hell am not going to leave without you". I saw her curse under her breath, before she left her cover, the weapons fire of the spectral soldiers starting to pepper the log she was behind, she would not have lasted long under the fire. She dashed for us, as Angel grabbed Mox, taking him up to the ship via one of the ropes, as I grabbed another, as Elena reached me.

"I hate you, you fucking bastard" She hissed once more, grabbing the rope beside me, both of us being pulled up into the ship. The Skyranger didn't wait for us to be fully in, starting its flight away from the prison, the ship already moving as we clambered into the seats, Mox and Angel already in their seats, Mox's head still lulled to one side, indicating his unconsciousness. Elena quickly found her seat, ripping off her mask and throwing it against the wall at the far end of the ship, yelling as she did so. I could see the pure anger on her face, as she glared at me, her eyes bloodshot, nose flared. I simply sat in silence, not wanting to aggravate her any more than she already was. She pulled down her hood, rubbing her hands forcefully over her face.

"We let him escape...We could have killed him there and then!" She seethed. "I hate you for using my own words against me. I hate you so much"

"Elena..." I started, but I was quickly interrupted.

"No! Don't you dare 'Elena' me. I don't want your excuses. I'm not making any for me. My family, my friends, they are turning in their graves at my lack of action against the Warlock. No one of the Reapers backs down from a fight, we fight with honor and conviction, not like cowards, not like that!"

"You were signing your own death warrant. That fight was unwinnable" I retorted, forcefully enough that she let me speak this time. "Bring the fight to the Warlock on a different day, when we have a good chance"

"That was a good chance! He was so unprotected, he was within our firing range if we just pushed a little closer! He uses his spectral army to do his work for him, and we had a good chance to shoot at him there!"

"That's what he wanted. He wanted us to fight him. Why do you think he was taunting us?" I reasoned, placing my rifle across the seats to my left, folding my arms across my chest. "Anyway...we got Mox out of the prison. I think that's a heavier blow to him, than us being cowards is to us" I saw Elena reason with my argument, considering my words rationally, the anger still evident on her face.

"True...the Elders will probably chastise him for his failure...But it would still have been good to send him home with his tail in between his legs." She said, calming down a little, but obviously still sulking.

"We got Mox. We did what we came here to do, and, on paper, perfectly" Angel attempted to cheer her up, but you could tell that she was purposely ignoring him, she didn't want to hear it.

"Bradford's on the comms, I'm patching him through" The pilot called over to us from the ship comms. With a brief crackle of static, the voice of Bradford came through, his voice obviously tired, as if he'd only just woken up.

"Hello team, firstly, I want to congratulate you for the prison break. At least the Viper has someone to contend with for that title now" he made an attempt at a joke, though to be honest, I think it just showed that even Bradford had some prejudices against Kassara, which I would not have really guessed outright, considering he would have let her into X-Com. It wasn't my place to argue that though. "With the support of the Templars, Skirmishers and Reapers together, X-Com only becomes stronger. Elena, could I have a quick brief on what happened?"

"Yes, sir. I've already relayed what happened over the past week, so I will continue from there. The prison was again scouted to find guard patterns before we entered into the compound following a set route predetermined. The alarms went off as we broke Mox out, due to an alarm on the door, and we were able to escape the grounds before significant resistance was formed by Advent. We held our position outside the grounds before airlift. No casualties or wounded, but I would recommend a psychological evaluation of Zero"

I gave her a confused look at the end of her sentence, feeling a little upset at the insinuations of what she said. And because she mentioned it to Bradford, it actually meant that I was gonna see some downtime towards it. But I knew exactly why she mentioned it to him, it was because of the Vipers. I had a feeling I would end up in that weird machine inside the infirmary, and find out what it really does.

"Please explain?"

"I believe Zero has manifested a fear of Vipers, due to panicked reactions to their presence on the battlefield, both before and after the scouting efforts, however, only readily apparent specifically during the prison break. This aside, he performed exceptionally, as did Angel, and controlled his reactions adequately, and was not a hindrance to the team" She finalized.

"Thank you. I will meet you all back in the hangar when you arrive." He responded, the small crackle of electricity signifying that he had signed off, and we were once again left to ourselves.

"You lied to him?" I asked Elena, talking about how she had said I wasn't a hindrance. Both she and I knew that I could have ruined the entire attempt if she didn't snap me out of it, so I was wondering why she let me off the hook here.

"Well, I didn't outright lie. It was like a half lie. You did well, so I told him you did well. And maybe left out the part of where you were dragging us down, but I did that for me as well. My lips are sealed if yours are" She spoke. She seemed confident that both Angel and I would not tell anyone about her attempt to suicide against the Warrior, but I suppose she had a reason for believing my silence. "But you still need help for the Vipers. Look...You're a good Sniper, and you aren't as thick as I initially thought you were"

"Thick?" I again questioned.

"You believed the gathering was entirely for you, it didn't come across that great" She gave the tiniest of smiles, before returning to her point. "We have our differences about the Viper. Your heart is in the right place, even if your head isn't. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt until she does something that I will question, because you don't seem to have an entirely bad judgment of character. But I'm still not happy with her being on board the Avenger, just remember that, okay?"

I nodded, sincerely thankful for her understanding, regardless of her own thoughts on the matter. The whole week had just felt like a little bit of a trial, to be honest, in attempt to not piss of Elena. She wasn't somebody I needed as an enemy on board the Avenger.

"One more question, who are the Templars?" Angel interrupted us, obviously speaking to Elena.

"They must have joined X-Com after we left for our mission, as I didn't see any on board beforehand. They harness the psionic power that the Elders chase, building upon their powers through intense and rigorous training, apparently. I've not met one in person, but the Reapers have met them in the past. Both of us like to be left alone, so it worked out in that respect. Very pious people, they think their powers are god given, and therefore it is their duty giving by God to rid the world of those who wish to destroy it. I would advise you try and stay away from them, unless you don't mind listening to a bunch of religious drivel." Elena briefly explained. It didn't paint a great picture of them, but at least gave an overview of what they were.

"Sounds like you're not a huge fan of them" I summarised, glancing over to Mox. I wonder if he would share her sentiments on the Templars. Or on the Viper for that matter. Maybe he would see an ally in her, as they're both defectors, which would be great for Kassara. The whole new group dynamics by having the three extra resistance members on board would be interesting, to say the least.

"I don't mind them. They fight against the Elders, that's enough for me. They can just be a bit annoying is all. Same as everyone" She shrugged. She seemed to have calmed down a lot since getting on the Skyranger, though you could still see the thoughts troubling her in her head. She knew that it was for the best for everyone that she retreated, but she didn't like it. And I would have to find out what was gonna happen, when I got back. I would probably be placed straight into that weird machine in the middle of the infirmary. I hope it didn't take too long, if I really had developed a fear of Vipers, then having Kassara around probably wasn't gonna be a great idea. Even thinking about her now made me a little uneasy, partially because of the incident that happened a week ago. I'm glad she listened to me, because she's definitely stronger, as Vipers tended to be, I wouldn't have been able to fight her off easily. I would have to keep my penknife handy on me, just in case.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 04:46 EST 5/04/2035, location: Unknown)

I hadn't been to sleep last night. I couldn't. Ever since I told Brick and Echo what happened, I'd been permanently on edge, wondering if anyone knew, wondering what would happen to me. Brick had spoken to me a bit, trying to act as if it made no difference to her, but I could tell. I could tell it bothered her. As relaxed about me being an alien as she was, I don't think she liked the idea of a human and an alien together. Or, at least, Zero and me being together. But I didn't want us together, so that shouldn't be an issue, in theory, but the fact that that almost happened, I think disturbed her. I tried to talk to her more about it, to apologize again for what I had done, but she actively tried to avoid the topic. And Echo had avoided me as much as she could, staying silent as we ate together yesterday, before leaving early. I needed to sort it out. If either of them decided holding their tongue was more pointless than talking about it for the sake of conversation, I was doomed. So, like any person would, I have spent the last couple of days in an almost permanent state of paranoia. I knew it, but I couldn't stop thinking about the consequences. People knew now, that means it's so much less likely to remain a secret. If I could just speak to Zero, and fix things with him, at least if everyone knew, it may not affect our friendship. As much. I don't know. I can't buy Brick or Echo's silence, but I needed it. I was told that they would be returning this morning, and whilst I had tried to go to sleep and tell myself to bother him tomorrow, I didn't think I could risk it. So I'd stayed up most of the night, watching Brick and the others sleep, going into the bathroom and washing my face over with cold water, but none of it really helped.

So when I heard the faint sounds of the engines of the Skyranger approaching, I decided that I should just ask Zero about it now. Just meet them as they left the hangar and ask for a word in private. I...I didn't know what I was gonna say. 'Hey, I know I wanted to have sex with you, but I didn't actually'. No. 'Can you forgive me for what I did last week?'. It just sounded too pleady. I don't think there was anything correct I could say, but I needed to go for it. Get it off my chest, stop worrying about it so much. I put on my armor, carefully putting on each clasp so that it made as little noise as possible. Shen had fixed it up really well, and very quickly, so I didn't have to wear shirts around the Avenger again.

The hangar was a little bit away, so I would just have to catch Zero as he was coming back to his room. Regardless, I headed down towards the hangar, the sooner I met him, the sooner I could get a bit more peace of mind. I rushed down the corridors, only thinking about what I could say to him, but no better ideas than what I had thought of since it happened came up.

 _'Just get it over with, Kassara_ ' I told myself. ' _It's better that he hears it from you, and not from everyone else'_

Along the way to the hangar, I passed by Bradford, walking back from the hangar. He must have just debriefed the squad and was on his way back up to the control center. Or to bed, I don't know which.

"Good morning, Viper" He greeted, causing me to stop to talk with him briefly. "How come you're up so early in the morning?"

"I...uh..." I hesitated, not sure of what I could say that wouldn't give away too much about what I was doing. The armory was in the other direction, so I couldn't say I was checking in on Shen. I suppose I just had to tell him, but be vague about it. "I'm just going to meet with Zero and the others and congratulate them for the mission. I was already awake, so I thought I would drop by, since I had nothing better to be doing"

"Oh. Okay, well, I'll leave you to it. Don't cause any issues, I'm too tired to deal with it" He gave a slight smile, indicating his jest, though I couldn't place it, it didn't feel like it was in jest in its entirety. I ignored it for now. I swiftly parted with Bradford, knowing that I would at least be able to catch them as they left, or in the hangar itself. Unfortunately, as I got closer, it wasn't Zero that I saw walking down, or even them as a group, but Elena, with Angel by her side, with no Zero. Hopefully, they would just let me pass unhindered, but Elena stopped me before I could pass.

"Hey, where are you heading to?" She asked, none of the normal animosity in her voice. Maybe a little bit, but it was nowhere near her normal. I was kind of surprised to see her actually attempting to talk to me, instead of shouting me down, calling me a pet, accusing me of being a traitor or a spy. It took me a second to switch from my defensive mode that I had automatically put myself on in preparation to talk to her.

"Uh...sorry, hi, I'm just going to see Zero" I explained, stumbling at the beginning as I tried to adjust to just talking. Elena paused, causing Angel to stop as well, turning to face us as we talked. I think he thought it was going to end in a shouting match, but that's the last thing I wanted right now.

"I don't think it would be wise for you to see Zero, if you didn't want something bad to happen" She responded. It sounded like a threat, the words she said, the way she said it. What made her say that, did she not want me visiting Zero? Which made no sense, she knew him and I are friends. Were friends. I'm not sure where we are now. Does that mean...maybe he told her. Shit, did he tell her?

"Pardon?" I asked, possibly a bit more confrontational than I had intended, but I was responding to a threat from her, I wasn't going to lie down and take it. I could see her get irate, by the way she clasped the mask in her hands.

"Don't go and see Zero. He will probably react really badly to you being there. I'm warning you on his behalf, not on mine" She spoke again, slightly slower. I didn't understand, it sounded like a threat, but at the same time, it didn't. I couldn't decide whether she was going to attack me or not, but it wasn't on par with her usual behavior. Maybe she was actually making an effort not to start an argument again.

"Sorry, I need to speak with him" I said, leaving to go towards the hangar.

"Alright. Then you should probably know he's gone to the infirmary" She relented, stopping me as I was heading off. I turned around to face her again. I could see it, on her face, her anger at me being me. Yet she was not saying anything particularly inflammatory. What happened on their week off?

"How come? is he hurt?"

"No. Fear of Vipers" She stated, proceeding to head away from me this time, down the corridor. Well, that at least made more sense to her other 'threats'. Why didn't she just tell me that at the beginning? It doesn't matter, what matters is Zero. I was hoping to the Elders...I was hoping, that I was not anything to do with his fear, and furthermore, I was hoping that it wasn't going to affect if I could talk to Zero or not. I spent a moment puzzling over whether or not I should go. I shouldn't, on the fact that I could scare Zero, if he has a fear of Vipers, however, he knew me, that would account for something, right? I couldn't push this back, if I didn't do it now, I don't think I would motivate myself to do it on a separate occasion easily. I had to do it now, just get it out of the way, so I can just rest easy and get some sleep. I made my way past the hangar, taking the route to the infirmary, quickening my pace.

As I reached the infirmary doors, I took a moment to steady myself. I could feel my hands shaking, in anticipation, or nervousness, as I took three deep breaths. I didn't know what to say. I just had to say it. I pushed open the doors, still readying myself as I entered the infirmary. Round the corner to the middle room, I saw two people stood there around a machine in the middle that looked somewhat like a life pod. The female doctor, dressed in her white lab coat with her gloves on, was currently placing small wires onto the bare chest of Zero. His shirt was off, thrown onto one of the spare beds, revealing his build underneath. I had seen him in t-shirts before, I knew that he was quite thin, and not too muscular, but I could tell, just looking at what was mostly his back, and some of his side, that even if he didn't look as imposing as Goblin, he had a definition to his build that left me staring a little bit, it was nothing I had seen before, it was interesting, to say the least. However, the doctor quickly spotted me, and Zero followed her gaze to see me. I could see him flinch as he turned slightly, revealing the three wires she had already attached, two to his chest, and one on his stomach. Similar to his back, there seemed to be a certain amount of definition to his front. I could feel my eyes tracing him up and down, noticing that the only hair he had, was not on his chest, but actually as a small amount between the hole in his stomach, and his trousers, in a neat little line. I snapped out of my glances, instead trying to make a conscious effort to maintain eye contact, stopping the scratching of my fangs on my lower lip again.

"Viper...now is probably not the time" The doctor began, turning Zero back around to face her, so she could place on the last wire. "I don't think this will help Zero, at this point in time."

"It's ok...just give us a minute, please?" Zero asked, watching the doctor hesitate, before she obliged, nodding slightly before she turned to walk into the back room. I don't know how much privacy this gave us, but it was better than her standing there. I think Zero knew what this was about, and it didn't look like he was looking forward to it to.

"Well? What is it?" He asked, his voice not perfectly steady, as he turned to face me. I approached him slowly, his eyes darting about a little bit. So it was true...I scared him. Even though he knew me, my presence was enough to cause him to be uncomfortable.

"I was told you had a fear of Vipers. I didn't think it would be possible for you, but it's obvious" I sighed. "I hope I wasn't one of the reasons behind this?" I half-asked. Zero's silence let me know the answer all too well. I couldn't help but grimace, but I returned to my point regardless. "Zero, I need to talk to you...about what happened" I hushed my voice to avoid the doctor overhearing it.

"There's nothing to talk about. Nothing happened" Zero said, firmly. It was very hard to notice, but I could just about see the tiny little hairs that adorned his arms had stood on end, as if stiff.

"No...you don't understand" I shook my head. "Zero, we can't pretend that nothing happened. I..." I paused, knowing how much he would judge me for this. For all the times he's kept my secrets safe, I couldn't hold onto his. Well, ours. "I told Brick and Echo. They know" I sighed, looking away from him, folding my arm across my chest onto my other arm.

"What?!" He almost hissed. "Why?!"

"They knew! They knew something happened!" I defended, almost pleading with him to understand. "They forced it out of me, I couldn't...I couldn't..."

"Great, so everyone on the ship thinks you had sex with me?" He said, his tone angry, his hands clenching into fists.

"No, I told them what happened, that I came onto you and you refused. Please, Zero...I just need to talk about it"

"They won't believe that, why would you tell them that?" He put his arms to his face, rubbing it up and down once, before looking back towards me. "Everyone on the ship will know now"

"I know, I know, it's my fault!" I snapped back at him. "I don't care what other people think at the moment. I'm here to talk to you" I snapped out of trying to appease him, instead focusing on what I needed to say. "I want to tell you that I'm sorry for what happened. I was drunk, like you said at the time, and my judgment was impaired. I don't see you in that way whatsoever, I don't want it to be that way. I just want us to be friends again, I didn't like not being able to speak with you" I spoke, trying to breathe in between my sentences, as I could feel my emotions bubbling up again, making it harder, but I controlled myself.

"You don't like me in that way? Honestly?" He asked, folding his arms.

"Honest" I nodded, keeping my distance from him. He still looked to be uneasy around me.

"Good. What happened, is definitely not what I wanted. You are my friend, but you are never going to be anything more than that, you understand?" He said, with somewhat of a sigh of relief. I felt something in me sink upon his words, like I was being beaten down by him, but why? "Look, It's not something I can just ignore...especially now you've told people. And, just to set things straight, I'm sorry for what I did to"

"Huh?" I asked, confused as to what he was talking about.

"Me refusing to on the grounds that you were a Viper" He gave a small smirk. "I guess you completely forgot huh?"

"Oh, right that. No, no, I understand, I wasn't upset at you for that. I just felt bad about what I did" I returned his smirk with an attempt at a smile back, taking in the slightly amusing side of the issue.

"Ok. Well, I suppose it's good you came to see me. Doctor, thank you for waiting" He finished, calling out to the doctor in the backroom, who came back out, returning to her task of attaching the wires to Zero, this time onto his back.

"I hope you recover soon, Zero. I missed you" I smiled, as I turned to leave the infirmary. As soon as I was out of the doors, I let out a huge sigh, one of both relief and of disappointment. ' _I missed you, really Kassara? Nice job.'_ I chastised myself. I wasn't any good at this sort of thing. But, I had gotten things straightened out with Zero, I think. Maybe. I hope. Maybe with him dealt with, I could stop hanging onto all these stupid emotions. Being a guard was so much easier, I didn't have to deal with this sort of stuff. Now the weight lifted off of my chest, or most of it anyway, I headed back to my dorm, tiredness slowly overtaking me.

* * *

 _AN: Quicker chapter time this time, but I'm going to be off for 4 weeks before I can start writing again, due to exams. Thanks everyone for reading!_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

(Sergeant 'Zero', 05:13 EST 05/04/2035, Location: Unknown)

I could feel myself un-tense as Kassara finally left, I hadn't realized how stressful it was just talking to her. As if I needed any more evidence of my decaying mental state, it only proved more that I needed treatment. I had tried playing it off in a cool demeanor, but I was really terrified by the prospect of a rumor flying around the ship that Kassara and I were a thing. I put my hand to my face again, pressing firmly into my head as if I could rub away the thoughts if I tried hard enough. Brick was terrible at keeping secrets, it wouldn't be long before she let enough hints slip, or just straight up told someone. What would people think? I didn't want to be made fun of for this.

But she also said she missed me, I was almost too busy with my own thoughts, but I managed to just pick it up at the end. I missed her too, at least being the way we were before the party, anyway. I should have done something before I left for the mission, instead of letting it fester for the entire time I was gone. I suppose, in that respect, it was my fault that she had bottled up her feelings on the matter. I felt like she struggled with dealing with her emotions, possibly because she wasn't used to having to show it did make me feel kind of warm that I had helped Kassara understand herself more, and build a friendship with her. I thought we were in a good place with each other, admittedly when she was crying, trying to turn her own feeling into words...I just wanted to hold her and tell her it was all going to be okay. To let her know I was always there for her. I suppose both of us came off too strong on the other. Certainly, she added another image of herself to the library of things I shouldn't think about, I didn't care to admit that it still occupied my thoughts occasionally. But now...now whether we were still friends was questionable. I'm not sure what she is feeling, she said she didn't want me in that way, and it was just the drink. I believe her...but there's still doubts, regardless. I don't want to think about it.

"Zero, your heart rate is quite high, I would assume that is from the Viper?" The doctor interrupted my thoughts, attaching the last of the electrodes onto my back, turning me around so she could place the final of the four on my front. I paused briefly, having been in my thoughts, it took me a moment to come back to reality.

"Yes, it's because of Kassara. It felt more uncomfortable talking with her than it should have" I admitted, taking a seat on a bed as she gestured towards it, as she fetched a clipboard and pen, returning to my side.

"Ah, she is a sweet thing, no? She still looks quite nervous and out of place here" She summarized, writing down a couple of lines on the paper, before she checked the equipment for my values, copying them onto her sheet, I assume.

"Yeah..." I agreed with her, thinking back to her at the party. She was trying to get into it, but she always looked somewhat out of place. "I think it's hard for her to fit in at all"

"Shame. Well, anyway, I'll tell you why I brought her up. I was going to put you in the Hypervital module, which essentially puts you into a comatose state in order to remove your fear, but this would often be over a somewhat long period of time, and can have a few unintended side effects." She started, putting the board down and talking to me face to face. This didn't sound dodgy at all. I was going to be put into a coma? It sounded dangerous. "Instead, what I may try to do, considering you are on good terms with the Viper, is a smaller period of time in the hypervital module, and slow integration back into the team using the Viper. If I am able to adjust what makes you 'tick' when in contact with Vipers, simply being in contact with them should be enough to allow for a full recovery. However, she will obviously need to help you on this. I felt the color drain from me slightly, at the thought of spending a lot of time with a Viper. The doctor looked back towards my the screen, I could see from where I was sat that my heart rate had increased again, but I didn't need a screen to tell me that.

"That sounds like a bad idea" I protested immediately. "I would rather be cured of a fear than have to face it"

"But you will be cured. Partially, anyway. The way I see it, you are still happy enough to talk with the Viper, with some minor consequences of course, but you are able to, nonetheless. So we can use this to help in your recovery. I will have to bring it up with the Commander, of course, so will see how it goes." She shrugged, turning to leave me as she fetched some more stuff. It looked like I didn't really have a say in this, so I gave up my stance, sighing at the result. I was with a mixed view on Kassara. I had missed her, yet she terrified me. Just talking to her had been enough to make me almost start to panic, but she was my friend. I think. I don't know where we were, but it was better than it had been whilst I was away. I needed to be there for Kassara, to help her with Elena.

"Well, let's get you in the module then, no need to wait. I want to go back to bed, as much as I enjoyed being woken up by Bradford" She hurried, getting me to stand up. We walked over towards the large horizontal piece of equipment in the center of the infirmary. All the beds were placed around it, like it was a grand centerpiece, which in some respects it probably was. The module was larger than me by quite a bit, it looked like a very ornate coffin almost, completely black in color, with various tubes and wires coming in and out of it. The front of the module had a see-through section of the glass, probably where my head and chest would go once I was in it, probably so I could be monitored.

The doctor moved to the computer attached, tapping a few times on the keyboard, as the top of the chamber slowly lifted, swinging open on its hinge, to reveal what was inside the machine. The entire thing had a layer of water on the bottom, if I had to estimate, about an ankle's depth. She wasn't serious, right? I'm not getting into a machine full of water. She started walking back around so she was directly opposite of me, watching me study the hypervital module.

"I was wondering how you would react" She commented quickly, wearing some sort of devious little smile. "Yes, the fluid is supposed to be in there. Don't worry about the electrics, it won't interfere with the electrodes at all. Just undress and get in when you are ready. The sooner the better"

"Undress?" I questioned. "Like, naked?"

"Well, yes. I'm sure you don't want your clothes soaking up the fluid and reducing the effectiveness of the module? No, thought not. Come on, undress" She ordered. I couldn't help but blink at her as she stood, waiting for me to take my clothes off in front of her.

"Do you mind giving me a little privacy?"

"Please, I've seen it all before, I need to make sure you get in properly, I'm going to see it either way. Just get on with it" She sighed. I wanted to complain about it, but I wasn't going to get anywhere here. Best just to get it over with. I slipped my boots off first, placing my socks in the boots, before hooking my thumbs into my boxers, pulling both the underwear and pants down in one motion, kicking out of them and placing them in a pile next to my shirt, which was already off from earlier.

"Okay. Get in carefully, and slowly. The fluid will be a little cold, just to warn you" She continued, moving to the bottom of the module, where my feet were going to go. I slowly climbed in, trying somewhat to shield myself from her, using my arms or legs where I could, but I could see her roll her eyes, she was obviously not fond of my 'antics'. The fluid was indeed chilly, but also somewhat viscous. It was not water, to say the least. I lowered myself into the fluid, which rose up onto my chest as I laid down fully, the top of my toes, chest, and most of my face were the only things unsubmerged.

"Alright, the temperature will decrease once I lock you inside. Just try not to panic, and your body will naturally fall unconscious and comatose. Don't worry, the risk in this procedure is minimal, just close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Are you ready?" She asked. The words she said did very little to calm me, and only made me start to panic a little more, but I swallowed my fear, and gave her a short nod, as I saw the lid swing back over onto me, sealing shut with a hiss. I Could see through the panel, staring into the white lights of the infirmary, my breath condensating slightly onto the surface of the glass already. I did as I was told and focused on regulating my breathing, as I could feel myself get colder and colder. My eyes began to grow heavy, as I focused on breathing, deep, long breaths, struggling to keep them open as I shivered, slowly falling into darkness.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 13:22 EST, 05/04/2035, Location: Unknown)

I have felt a lot better since my talk with Zero. Down, yes, but better. I didn't feel the same unease thinking back to the night in question, it didn't have the same uncertainty attached to it, and the tension between me and Zero had dissipated. But it solidified that we weren't going to happen, us as a thing. Not that this was an issue, I didn't want him in that way at all. It was just me being drunk, and just because he's been nice to me. I wouldn't have done that whilst I was sober, it was the humans poisonous liquid that made me think those things, for sure. But talking with him finally settled me down, it was the most peaceful sleep I have had in a week.

Brick woke me up relatively early in the morning, asking if I wanted to go to breakfast, but I had refused to in favor of my bed, the blanket and pillow were too enticing to leave, so I managed to bag myself a few extra hours of sleep at least. She told me to meet her in the rec room when I woke up, as she was going to hang out with the Templar, and thought we should meet properly, rather than leave it as how it was on the mission. I have had a bad experience with the resistance members, they all seem quite radical and have very strong opinions. But Geist did seem to like me, I hope that this extended to the other Templars as well.

I reached the room and entered the rec room, there were a couple of soldiers sat in the corner watching the television, I think one was Venom, but I couldn't identify the other. I ignored them, continuing to scan the room, seeing the only occupied table was by Brick, Firehawk, and the Templar in question, Ty, if I recall correctly. Brick spotted me quickly and moved to her side slightly, tapping the bench she was sat on to usher me over to sit. I obliged, watching as the Templar turned his head to face me. With his helmet off, I could see his features, he looked very young, compared to everyone else, I don't know how I could particularly tell, but it was almost obvious. If I was to hazard a guess, he was younger than the new rookies they pulled on the ship, he reminded me more of the 'teenagers' that I had seen in Advent cities, adolescents who spent pretty much the entirety of their time in education. I don't think they had an option, looking back at it. He had long-ish brown hair, swept onto one side, his fringe ending by his right eyebrow, it made him look a little mysterious. I sat down on the bench, nodding towards the Templar briefly, hoping I was still correct that a nod could be used as a greeting. He returned the gesture, remaining silent.

"Good morning sleepyhead. Glad to see you finally up" Brick greeted. "Thought we would treat Ty to a small tea break here, he seemed somewhat eager to meet you" She smiled. I took the time to notice the empty china cups each of them had, though the one in Firehawk's cup was still full of a light-brown liquid.

"Tea? That doesn't look like tea" I shook my head. I was remembering the black tea that they used to serve, they were a bit bitter unless you put enough sugar in them. People often had it iced as well, but I had not seen it like this.

"I hate to use the word, but you are a filthy American then. I can't believe nobody has had 'actual' tea" She complained.

"It's because it tastes awful!" Firehawk disputed. "Why would you ever put milk in tea anyway!" She crossed her arms, upset at Brick.

"Why would you not put milk in tea, it's not tea then, it's just leaf water!" Brick countered, a ridiculous grin splitting across her face. Ty remained silent as he watched us, merely observing the two arguing in front of him.

"Could I have a taste?" I asked, pointing towards Firehawk's cup.

"You don't want that one, she's put three sugars in it and it's gone cold, disgusting really" Brick dismissed, waving her hand at the suggestion.

"I will get you a cup" Ty spoke out from beside Firehawk, his voice relatively smooth compared to everyone else's, I would argue a type of voice I would have otherwise say belonged to a female, apart from the low pitch. He stood up, walking over towards the bar, where a trolley stood with a few cups similar to those on the table.

"Thank you" I quipped, before he left, turning to watch the others continue to argue about the drink.

"It's a shame we don't have biscuits here to eat either, they go great with tea" Brick started.

"Biscuits? Why would you eat those things with tea? They are a desert!" Firehawk matched, throwing her hands out in frustration.

"No no, not your silly cakes, biscuits! The dry, crunchy, crumbly things that you dunk in the tea" Brick smiled.

"You mean crackers?" She asked incredulously

"No, not crackers, biscuits. Crackers are different!"

"Could you both please stop, this is a pointless argument!" I interrupted before they could continue.

"Pfft, Brick's just being a typical Brit" Firehawk jabbed finally, earning a grin again from Brick, before Ty returned with a cup of the liquid. I could see the steam rising from it as he placed it down, returning to his seat beside Firehawk. I raised the cup to my lips, tasting the air around the tea, trying to get the taste of the liquid. It wasn't strong, like the beer, I wasn't recoiling from an awful smell, but it didn't really taste of anything in particular, maybe a little bit of a sweet taste, but it was hardly noticeable.

"You might want to give it a bit to cool off before you try it, lest you burn your tongue, Viper" Ty spoke, as I began to raise the glass to my mouth.

"Oh, thanks. Ty, was it?" I asked, fully knowing the answer, but just to ease introductions off of the table.

"Yes, short for Taiya. What name do you go by?" He asked, keeping the slight air of mysteriousness about him with how he spoke and acted, I couldn't quite place what it was about him that made him that way.

"Kassara. A pleasure to meet you, properly at least" I gave my attempt at a smile to him, reaching my hand out for him to shake, similar to how I had seen from others, like when I first met Firehawk. He grasped my hands, letting my fingers and claws wrap around his smaller hand, though he retained a firm grasp regardless.

"Yes, it's good to meet you off of the battlefield. Geist spoke highly of you, I was hoping to be able to speak sooner, but we didn't get the chance to on the transport" He hummed, not smiling, but yet he appeared happy.

"Geist thinks too highly of me. I didn't even know the Templar I fought alongside was him" I shrugged. "I'm just surprised to see a resistance member who doesn't want me dead. You know, Vipers being the enemy and everything"

"Geist works in his own ways" he gave a knowing smile, albeit a faint one, but I saw it. "And I would assume you speak of the Reapers? Their lack of understanding is a shame, for such skilled warriors. They view others as 'groups'. You are with them, or against them, and if you attempt to change which side they believe you fight for, they start having problems. Look at their history with the Skirmishers. Regardless, we believe that each is an individual, and they may make the choices that only they understand the reasoning behind. And it's also good to have a weapon of the Elders being used against them. Vipers are well known for their cunning, their speed and strength, their prowess. The Elders would fear the point at which their own creations turn against them. Their troops. Their powers..." He finished his monologue by holding his hand out, a purple blade erupting from his wrist, before retracting. "They fear that we may become as strong as them"

It sounded very much like Geist, the same sort of ordained beliefs, the same attitude that they were above, that they understood all. It made him look a little conceited, yes, but in all honesty, I was happy to be revered by someone, to be considered an ally to them.  
"Oh...well, I'm glad that's how you feel" I answered, uncertain as to how best to reply. I grabbed the tea on the table, and brought it to my mouth, it felt slightly cooler, so I took a small sip from the cup. The hot liquid washed down my throat quickly, I could feel it go down; the taste was not one I was particularly fond of, but not one that was dislikeable at any rate.

"So, any good?" Brick asked, clearly interested in the answer, leaning over from her side of the bench, eager for my response.

"It's...Okay, I guess?" I replied, confused at her investment in the matter. "It's not bad, but it's not good either"

My answer was apparently not one that satisfied either party, Brick slumping back with a sight, and Firehawk rolling her eyes at me. It looked like Ty was going to comment, before a new voice called across the room from where the door was.

"Templar..." The distorted voice called out, a clear vibrating modulation to his tone, I couldn't put my finger to it, but it sounded almost like an Advent trooper speaking in English. I turned to face the door, and I don't think I could have been much closer to the truth. There stood The Skirmisher, still in his white body armor, with his helmet removed, revealing all the implant, distortions to his vaguely human face, the product of the Elder's intervention, I'm sure. Elena stood next to him, her hateful eyes quickly falling to mine, whilst Deadbolt entered from the back of the group.

Ty jumped out of his seat to face the Skirmisher, his right hand forming a fist by his side, obviously ready to erupt into his psionic energy if needed. He was so much smaller in stature to the Skirmisher, but he showed no fear toward him.

"Here to spread your corruption to X-Com? Planted here by Geist himself, I assume" The Skirmisher spoke, his voice relatively measured, but I could still hear how threatening it sounded regardless. What did he mean by corruption exactly?

"I didn't plan on it, no. But if you want to make an attempt to silence me and stop me now, please, go right ahead" The Templar smoothly responded, not elevating his voice at all, remaining the same, mysterious person he was before. The Skirmisher gave a growl at the Templar, as Brick stood up, putting her hand on the Templar's shoulder, ushering him to sit back down.

"Hey, come on, no need for an issue. What's the problem?"

"The 'problem' is the human sitting on that bench. They practice and wield the energy of the Elders, they let their power touch their minds, and you want to tell me they aren't influenced by it at all? They will succumb to their touch, for it is inevitable" The Skirmisher explained, not moving from where he was. He didn't seem to have the same aggressive demeanor Elena did, but I could relate the intolerances, for sure. Maybe this joint hatred was the reason they found fast friends with each other.

"Here to police other's words again then, Brick?" Elena started. "You don't need to stick up for everyone on the ship, they have spines themselves, you know" I could tell by Brick's reaction that she was not up for being baited into an argument with her, or the Skirmisher. She shook her head, sitting down herself, and proceeded to ignore the two intruders to the room.

"Come on, no reason to hang around" Elena sniffed, turning away from us, heading out of the room, pushing Deadbolt through the doorway as he wasn't leaving quick enough, the Skirmisher following suit, constantly holding his gaze upon the Templar. More distrust is not what we needed here. The intolerance to one another was amazing, to think what they may be able to achieve if they simply just worked together?

"What was that about?" I asked, still somewhat oblivious to the matter at hand. I didn't understand exactly what the Skirmisher meant by 'the corruption', but I could still guess, I just wanted clarification.

"The Skirmishers do not like our use of the psionic power we practice. The fact we are able to control others, and manipulate the continuum of space around us, it scares them, because they do not understand the power. Instead, the zealously quote the Elders as being the source of this power, and that our minds are tainted. Nothing could be further from the truth, our powers come from our own volition, no one else's. Of course, they still use this as an excuse to threaten us with attack. They have repeatedly threatened to reveal us to the Elders so that they may take what is rightfully theirs. Of course, the same could easily be said for them, they do not realize the hypocrisy" Ty Sighed, his slightly faltering voice the only indicator that the topic actually bothered him.

"Anyway, the tea has been lovely, I will resume my meditation in my room. Sorry you had to see that" He apologized briefly, standing up from the bench to head off.

"Don't worry too much about it, Elena has Kassara in her sights as well. There's always gonna be arguments when people with such different ideologies are in the same place, unfortunately. Just a shame some have to be so bigoted about it" Brick interrupted. Poor Firehawk had been sat still and speechless, merely observing the scene in front of her, I wasn't sure what she really made of it.

"Ah, that is truly a shame. I do not wish to be at the end of the Reaper's barrel. I hope, for your sake, she comes around and changes her stance. Stubborn people, they are. Thank you, for the break" He gave a curt bow, before leaving the room, walking fluidly as he left. I couldn't really tell, but I felt like he was somewhat fond of me, whether I can thank Geist for that or not is unknown, but he seemed like an interesting individual regardless.

"Hey, you wanna go see Zero?" Firehawk asked, obviously trying to move on from the previous topic quickly.

"Oh, yeah, right, Kassara hasn't seen him yet, of course!" Brick exclaimed quickly, immediately brightening back up.

"What do you mean? He's fine" I shrugged. I saw him this morning when I went to the infirmary, he was just going to be treated for his new fear, right?

"Yeah, he's ok, but he's been placed in the hypervital module in the infirmary. We went to see him this morning, I think it would be best for you to have a look for yourself." Firehawk shrugged. I suppose I had no choice in the matter really, but the 'hypervital module' certainly piqued my interest. We headed down to the infirmary, which was practically on the other side of the ship, so we had enough of a walk. Firehawk decided to duck back into her dorm, and said she would go find Echo and catch up with us later, leaving just Brick and me alone to see Zero. Brick took the opportunity of us being alone to bring up what happened a couple of days back.

"Hey, Kassara, are you feeling any better at all? You know from before. About Zero. You don't have to go and see him if you don't want to..." She began, placing a hand on my shoulder briefly as we walked, since I carried myself low enough for her to be able to reach easily.

"No, I'm fine" I dismissed her concerns. "I've sorted it out with him separately anyway. I'm...sorry for breaking down on you like that" I sighed, turning away from her in shame. Breaking down and crying in front of her wasn't the best thing I've done whilst part of X-Com.

"That was all my fault, Kass. I know a lot of people who would react a lot worse to being rejected" She consoled, completely missing the point of what I was upset about, of course.

"It wasn't because I was rejected, I'm fine with that. I don't like him in that way, so I spoke with him and sorted it out this morning" I explained shortly, refusing to make eye contact with her.

"Alright, firstly, I'm sorry Kass, but it did seem like it was because you were rejected. You can say you don't like him all you want, but you shouldn't lie to yourself about what was upsetting you, or you're just gonna upset yourself again. And secondly, when this morning? You weren't even awake" She rifled off, insulting me, and my ability to handle myself. And what do I even tell her about that second part? I couldn't just tell her I was awake and decided to visit him.

"I was up early this morning when they came back, so I went to talk to him in the infirmary" I shrugged, trying to sound as nonchalant about it as I could, but I'm not really sure how it came off.

"So you saw him in the hypervital module?"

"No, what is it?"

"Huh...you'll see, I guess. But seriously, if you need to talk about Zero, I'm here. Okay?" She offered, giving me a small nudge of her elbow, returning to being happy and smiley, almost in complete contrast to how serious she was just acting. She was starting to confuse me with this sort of behavior, I didn't understand how she could flick between emotions like they were a switch.

"We're fine. I think. Nothing happened, and we've just spoken about the fact that it was just the alcohol, it's fine. Well, he wasn't happy about me telling you, but the rest of it was okay."

"And I'm saying I don't think you're okay. You are really telling me absolutely nothing happened?" She persisted. I hated when she did this, I just wanted to be left alone about it, why did she have to be so intrusive?

"Nothing happened at all" I sighed. "Could we not talk about this, please?"

"Did you see him naked?" She asked, her voice going slightly silly. I turned to look at her grinning playfully up at me.

"No, of course not"

"Did he see you naked?"

"No"

"Kiss you?"

"Brick, I'm not going to dignify any of these with answers. Nothing happened, fullstop." I responded, frustrated, giving her a slight glare.

"Hold hands?" She asked, excitement, whether fake or not, still lined her voice completely. I immediately snapped my sights straight ahead, as I could feel a hot red rush up into my face. Yes...he did 'hold' my hand.

"You said you aren't even that comfortable with this, why are you asking me these questions?"

"I like to watch you squirm, it's cute" She smiled, laughing briefly as she continued to walk. Humans, how will I ever understand them. Thankfully, we were at least nearing the infirmary, so she stopped her intrusion, walking straight into the infirmary. I followed her, expecting us to be given a stern telling off by the doctor, but she merely waved at us as we entered, before returning to her work. She then did a slight double take, quickly getting slightly flustered as she grabbed a few things from her desk, and approached us.

"Viper, I will need your assistance, if you don't mind" She chirped, shuffling some papers in her hands, as she proceeded to walk towards the black oval box in the middle of the room, ushering us over. I did not usually see her in such an excitable mood, or I should say a rushed mood, I couldn't really tell.

"See Kass? This is the module Zero is in." Brick pointed towards the box as we got closer. I peered inside the machine, through the small viewing window at the top. Indeed, sitting inside this thing was Zero, his bare chest seeable through the translucent liquid he appeared to be lying in. His eyes were closed, his hair spreading out slightly under the liquid, though not much due to its curly nature. He looked almost peaceful, still.

"What's happening?" I asked the doctor. I don't remember seeing this when I came to visit him, I thought I would have noticed.

"Zero is in a coma, artificially induced, of course," She explained, quickly clarifying upon seeing my initial reaction of shock. "Normally he would be in here for two weeks. But I want your help, so that he doesn't have to spend as long in here, there's less chance of side effects this way" She smiled. There was something off about how she smiled, it looked tired, shattered even. She must not have gone to bed since I saw her this morning, poor lady.

"What do you need?" I asked tentatively, unsure of what she was proposing exactly.

"Well, I believe that we can rehabilitate his mental state to one where he isn't scared of Vipers by exposing him more to you with a variety of stimulus. I talked with the Commander and Bradford about my plans, and I have drawn up a schedule." She handed me a piece of paper, which even had its own table of contents, and on a brief glance seemed to outline 3 stages of rehabilitation.

"Could you just explain it to me, sorry?" I asked, thinking I would understand it better if it was just simply explained to me.

"Sure. I have proposed three stages of rehabilitation, one is simply just talking with a Viper and being comfortable in their presence in groups of people. This will then move onto solitary communication, including some activities which force the two of you to have to work together to solve. Then third is physical contact, going over everything from simply touching one another, such as a handshake, up to you binding him and providing light constriction"

"uh..." I immediately questioned, as soon as she mentioned constriction. I knew that I was definitely at fault for Zero's fear, and I had a feeling that me constricting him was a major factor that lead to him cracking on his mission. I didn't think it was a good idea at all, the last thing he needed to do was relapse.

"It's a necessary step, Kassara. We can't have him panicking as soon as he is captured by a Viper in the field, it is important that he remains calm, hence why it is good to include this in the attack strategy of Zero's fear." She explained without hesitating. Brick was still just peering down into the module, looking at Zero as he 'slept'.

"Well...yes, for Zero, I'll do it. When do you need me?" I asked.

"Most likely in a few of days time. I will come and get you when I'm ready" She smiled. "Thanks, Viper, I really think this will do wonders"

"Of course" I gave her a light smile back, as she returned her notes to her desk, snatching back the piece of paper from me, and continuing her work.

"Huh...well, guess you'll have your hands full babysitting Zero in a while then" Brick joked.

"Least I could do for him" I reassured, taking a last look at him back in the tank. I can help him, I can right what I've done wrong. I've been given an opportunity on a silver platter to be able to help not just him, but us. Hopefully, with this we can go back to being how we were, without all the damn awkwardness.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 10:27 EST 05/08/2035, location: Unknown)

"Alright...let's move onto the first exercise" The doctor's voice called out from behind me. I sat facing Kassara, her beady red eyes piercing into mine. It was manageable with when we were in a group of people, but now the feeling of unease building in my stomach made me feel sick, it didn't take anyone special to see how tense I was, even I knew it. I remembered what the doctor said, and closed my eyes, taking three deep breaths, before returning to the task. Kassara waited patiently opposite me, lazily sat on her chair, her tail laying on the floor behind her. My chair was only a few feet from hers, I could reach out and touch her if she did the same.

It had all been a bit of a blur since I came out of the module. I remembered the chilling cold I felt as I came out, my skin was like ice, as if completely solidified as well. After I had been warmed up using their heaters and had something to eat, the doctor explained to me what was happening, that she was going to run through a bunch of exercises with me and Kassara to help me recover. It wasn't that bad when I first saw her, there was an initial concern that the doctor noticed, but once the doctor had provided some topics for stimulation of discussion, I felt much more at peace, even in her presence. But now she had moved us to Kassara's old cell room, with two chairs. The jail bars were still there, but we stayed outside thankfully, ignoring the presence of the prison.

"All you need to do is talk, I will give you plenty of time, just tell me if you feel too uncomfortable" The doctor reassured, her soothing french accent floating out from behind me. I swallowed down the lump gathering in my throat, as I tried to talk to the creature in front of me. I knew it was Kassara, I know that I shouldn't be afraid...but there was something that scared me by just being left in her presence alone. Something that made me unconsciously pick at my nails, and scratch my arms, which I only noticed once I had done it. There was just a constant thought of what if she does this, what if she acts like a Viper, rather than one of us?

"Hey, Zero" Kassara started, speaking slightly softer, slightly more silvery than her usual tone, I suppose to try and accommodate me a little more.

"Hi, again," I responded, with slight hesitation, trying to just remember to keep calm. Breathe, Zero. Breathe. "How's it been on the ship?" I asked, picking a random topic out of the top of my head. Assuming small talk was the goal here. "I haven't really been here in around two weeks..."

"It's been pretty dull. We went on a mission to aid the Templars, another resistance group." She replied, keeping her hands safely in her lap, wearing one of her blue shirts, rather than the armor. I suppose the doctor thought it would be less intimidating. "The Skirmishers don't seem to like them. None of the resistance members really seem to get along"

"Like the Reaper dislikes you?" I asked automatically. Once she had begun talking, the pressure I was feeling reduced a little but it was still there, hovering around my head, my shoulders.

"Yeah, pretty much. They've just avoided each other for now. But the Templar seems to like me, at least" She gave a small smile as she looked away from me briefly, probably trying to picture the Templar, before she resumed to looking at me. We continued to talk a little bit more about the Templar, and she told me of the mission they went to assist the Templars, how the leader praised her because she fought well, though she stopped abruptly as she mentioned the fact that Bradford was upset about something she did, obviously unsure on whether the doctor would tell Bradford or not. It felt much better once we had talked for a bit, I simply felt more in my comfort zone, like nothing was going to happen. She asked me how my mission was with Elena. I didn't spare any details, I went over the first fight we had against Advent, the conditions we were living in, having to wear Reaper gear for the entire time. She looked kind of enamored by it, despite my description of the event. I told her about Elena, how I spoke to Elena about her, and that I think Elena understands why she is here a bit more. She seemed to be a little lost in thought, probably thinking about Elena, maybe a recent interaction with her she had, I couldn't tell. But the doctor was obviously satisfied that we were making progress, so she continued with the programme.

"Okay, I will now ask a series of questions, each of you will answer it for the other."

"Oh god, not another game of questions" Kassara sighed, jokingly. I couldn't help but laugh as I remembered back to when I first brought up the silly game as a way to pass time. It felt super cringe-y just looking back at it.

"Okay. First, if you could wake up tomorrow, with any one ability, what would it be?" The doctor interjected my laughing. The obvious answers immediately came to mind, shapeshifting, mind reading, invisibility, super strength...I would have to think this through properly before I gave my answer. But Kassara seemed fairly set on what she thought.

"Well...I would go for being able to read someone mind. I don't know how anyone thinks or acts, it would be a huge eye-opener for me" She began, her hand rubbing the back of her hood, where it reached her neck, as she thought out loud. "I mean, selectively anyway. I don't want to hear it all the time" She gave a small giggle at the end, which came out more like a hissing sort of laugh.

"Are you not scared you'll know what people really feel about you? Like if they don't like you, but would pretend to otherwise?" I probed. That was always my issue with that question, preserving the lie is better than knowing a person's honest opinions sometimes.

"Well...yes. But it would still be very useful to me. even if it meant I knew things I wish I didn't" She accepted, folding her arms against her body, clearly still considering it. "What about you?"

"I don't really know. I guess I would choose something like invulnerability, and I could take out Advent, cause I wouldn't be killable. I don't know any other way I could achieve that" I suggested, still unsure myself. I don't think I was very convincing.

"But that's the end goal? Defeat Advent?" She asked. "Like, kill every Alien, kill every living thing, or just topple the Elders?" I could see where she was standing on the question, and I noticed the slight look of concern she gave away as she watched me, studied me for my reaction.

"The Elders. I don't know about the Aliens, it would depend on whether they were able to live alongside us, then yes, I don't see a problem with that" I answered, truthfully, but carefully. I think Kassara could tell that I was being honest, as she nodded knowingly at my response.

"Alright. Say a thing you like about the other, alternating for two turns" The doctor interrupted, moving us swiftly onto the next question. Since she went first, I suppose it was my turn this time. I looked her up and down, truly trying to take her in, to think of something I valued in her.

"I like your markings. I think they look very unique, and pretty" I admitted, talking about the black chevron pattern on the back of her hood, along with the brown curled stripes that adorned her tail. I could see her look down towards her tail as I mentioned her markings, before she asked me.

"Do you mean my tail or my hood?" She quizzed, seemingly smiling, happy at the compliment.

"Both. The back in particular" I answered, watching her fluster slightly, her tail swishing slightly across the floor, her hand holding the upper part of her other arm.

"Well...I like your dedication to X-Com. I think it's admirable, the dedication to freeing a species from Advent" She started. I'm a little ashamed to say that I didn't really consider personality traits of the other, but at least it opened up my options a little.

"I like it when you act confidently in something, when you are convinced it is what you are doing, or you know what you are talking about. I think it makes you look like you know that you have found somewhere you can belong"

"Thanks, I have you to thank for that, of course," She nodded in response. "I like that you like helping others, like when you helped me with my shooting" I smiled, thinking back to when I pointed out her error, how frustrated she was getting, it was funny in hindsight, at least.

"Good!" The doctor commented, obviously pleased. "Well, we shall move onto the next task. Zero, turn your chair around so you are no longer facing Kassara"

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 11:03 EST, 05/08/2035, Location: Unknown)

I watched as Zero obliged the commands of the doctor. I think it had been going well so far, it was fun talking with Zero properly, even if it was just through prompt, or reliving our past memories, the good one. Hopefully it would remain this way.

"Okay, good. This next game is a simple one, to get you to move onto a more physical connection. Kassara will imagine a shape or object, and will draw it three times on your back. You will then guess the shape she is drawing. Good? Okay, Kassara, start with something simple, and build up."

I inched my chair closer to Zero so that I could easily rest whilst I continued with the activity. As I thought of a shape to draw, I noticed Zero's nervous behavior coming out again, as his head constantly twitched, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. I held in my sigh, knowing that I just needed to continue. I'm almost positive his new apprehensiveness was mostly due to not being able to see me. I suspected this exercise was a trust exercise for Zero, to trust that I won't do anything, even whilst he doesn't look at me. Deciding on drawing a triangle, I reached my finger out to his back, the claw barely touching him before he jerked forwards away from my finger. I retracted my finger again, waiting as he sat back again, I could see him try and swallow, go through his breathing exercise once more. I couldn't imagine what he was having to go through in his head, but I believe that this would help. I reached out again, this time the claw at my fingertip was able to touch him, as he again moved away, but only very slightly, before he moved back, allowing my finger to begin tracing the shape. I did as ordered, tracing out the triangle three times on his back, making sure to keep the three points in the same place.

"Triangle" Zero commented, obviously to the approval of the doctor, who was stood watching us. I moved onto another shape, drawing a star on his back, tracing out the individual points carefully and slowly. I watched as the claw at the tip of my finger gently indented against his shirt, tracing along his back, watching him twitch every so often under my touch. I drew the shape out three times, stopping when I was finished.

"Uhh..." He paused, tilting his head slightly to the side. "I...don't really know..."

"No matter. Move onto another shape" The doctor ordered. I obliged, trying to think of a new shape to draw. Suddenly, I had a good idea, not being able to stop myself from grinning, as I traced a new shape along his back, watching intently as I saw him concentrating on my finger. I repeated the shape three times, as ordered, before stopping. He took a moment, but I could see him snap up once he figured out what it was.

"Chevron" He erupted happily, his body moving as he began to laugh. "Took me a while, but that was a good one"

"Alright, we shall move on to the next activity. Alright, Viper, I'm going to ask you to stand about 6 foot away from Zero, and hiss at him, as you would against an enemy. This is an important part of the procedure. Just tell us when you are ready, Zero" The doctor interrupted again. Zero turned his chair back around to face me, as I stood back from him, taking my chair out of the way. He sat watching me, I could see him going through the breathing routines again, a large inhale, followed by a long exhale, repeating the sequence. I could see his chest rise and lower with each breath he took.

"Ready" He sighed, clenching his hands a couple of times, before he lay them at his sides. I closed my eyes, imagining something I would deem scary, something that was an enemy. I pictured a Muton charging at me, his gun in his hands, as the green armored beast closed the ground quickly. I unhinged my jaw, as my throat vibrated rapidly, a loud hiss erupting from my mouth. I opened my eyes again, to watch Zero completely panic, jolting backward in his seat with a newfound terror in his eyes, as his chair fell down to the floor with him still in it with a crack. I rushed over to him as he sprawled onto the floor, as the doctor waited.

"Zero, are you okay?!" I immediately tended to him as he clambered away from the seat, his breathing had become rapid once more, and his eyes were slightly widened, as he stared back up at me in some sort of shock. I saw him try to regain control of himself, as his breath was still relatively fast, his chest huffing in and out. I lowered my arms to him, reaching for his wrists, which he hesitantly offered to me to help him up. I pulled him up gently from the ground, until he stood in front of me, his wrists grasping onto my forearms.

"You aren't hurt, are you?" He gently shook his head in response to my question, swallowing again, trying to repeat his breathing exercises, slowly steadying himself. I moved my chair to where his used to be, now that I could see that the back had broken from him falling on it.

"You can do this, come on" I encouraged, watching him take his seat again, before he nodded for the go ahead again. I repeated my hiss, just as powerful as the time before, but I watched as he bit his lip and held his position, staring into my mouth as I hissed at him. It wasn't be any means a quiet noise that I made, it was designed to be threatening, especially as both of my fangs were bared doing it.

"Good. Keep going" The doctor ordered from behind Zero. She seemed to be enjoying watching, like it was her own little experiment. I guess it was really, but she seemed particularly against intervening with me and Zero, but just telling us what to do. I repeated the exercise, the flinching reaction Zero returned with getting less and less each time, to the point where I feel like he was no longer really reacting to it, like he was used to seeing it. Each time he withstood my threat, I couldn't help but smile slightly at how concentrated he was, focusing on himself. Though I did catch him give a smile back to me at one point.

"Perfect. Okay, this is the final part, and then I will clear Zero for duty. Kassara, if you do what we discussed earlier"

I paused, reluctant to enact her final part of the plan. Her last mission was to get Zero within my coils, and make sure he wouldn't panic. I thought it sounded ridiculous at first, but she explained that if he was more comfortable with it, when it occurred on the battlefield, he would be more in control of himself. But that didn't mean that this was going to be any easier for him, he would have to relive the time at which I already tried to kill him, and he didn't really need reminding of that. Without any warning, I quickly wrapped up around the Sniper, who immediately began to call out in panic, struggling against me as I slowly tightened, so he would not be able to breathe, but not enough to hurt him. He continued to struggle, panic setting in as I saw his eyes widen, his mouth desperately trying to take breathes he wouldn't be able to make. I could feel his legs desperately struggle in my grasp, his arms pressing hard against my scales.

I winded myself around him, so that my head was in front of him, so he could look directly at me, and I hoped from that I could convince him I wasn't going to hurt him. His eyes snapped straight to mine, still panicked, still struggling, but I could feel him begin to lose his vigor, as his thrashing inside my coil decreased to almost nothing, not because he was becoming unconscious, but as he looked into my eyes, I just about saw it, but it was obvious. He trusted me, he was putting his faith in me that I wouldn't hurt him.

"That's enough" The doctor ordered once more, as I uncoiled from him, watching as he fell to his knees to catch his breath, his hands supporting him as he fell to the floor. Once he had fully caught his breath, I heard the order of 'again' from the doctor to my side. I once again wrapped him up, my coils winding around the top of his legs, and around his torso, going across his stomach and chest, to make sure that he couldn't escape, his arms locked in tight against my coils. The initial panic still set in, and I could feel him struggling, but nowhere near as much, and it only took him a few seconds before he settled completely within my grasp. I hate to admit it, but there was something about this that I found particularly intimate. Maybe it was just the high amount of physical contact, maybe it was the fact that I get to study his every feature, feel his every muscle as I did so, it was somewhat exhilarating being able to hold him so close, so tightly.

I'm not sure if he felt that way too, but as we continued until the doctor gave the word, the idea of constricting him became so much more satisfying, like I was taking my breath away instead of his.

 _'Stop, you can't think like this, focus, you're helping him recover, nothing else.'_

I sighed, as I repeated the procedure, the reaction from Zero was now minimal, maybe a little adjustment at the beginning, but he sat perfectly still within my tail, almost embracing it.

"Well, that was everything I had put down on the schedule. How are you feeling, Zero?" The doctor finally came over to stop us, instead of telling us what to do from the back of the room like she had been all day.

"I feel fine. Thank you, doctor" Zero quickly thanked, nodding towards her in his appreciation. "I can't believe I'm admitting it, but I think I'm completely fine with Vipers after that, really..."

"Well, that was part of the plan, right? Well, whether this truly worked is yet to be seen until you go onto a mission, but for now, I will leave the both of you to it, and I will clear Zero for active duty. Please tell me if there's anything bothering you or if you feel like you may be rebuilding a panicked reaction to Vipers again, and if you think there are any side effects from the hypervital module, please come and see me immediately. Thank you again for your help, Viper, I don't think this rehabilitation would have worked so smoothly without you" The doctor finalized, putting the remainder of her notes into the clipboard she was holding, ready to head back to the infirmary.

Zero lead the way out of the room, holding the door open for me to leave my old prison cell, as we headed down the corridor, past some of the dormitory rooms, the underlying tension I had been feeling for the last part of the rehabilitation was dissipating. We came up to a split in the corridor, as Zero figured out we were headed different ways, he said his goodbyes.

"Well...I guess we should part for now, I need to get some food, and then I'll probably head straight to bed, I'm feeling exhausted after that" Zero gave a small chuckle as we paused at the intersection of the corridors. "And uh, thanks, for your help today. I don't think I could have recovered so easily without you there to help me through each step"

"You are more than welcome Zero. I'll talk to you tomorrow in that case, I will probably head down to the rifle range, could always use some more practice" I nodded, waving goodbye to him as we parted, and in return he shot a toothy grin back at me, giving me a small two-fingered salute. I happily returned the gesture to him. I think I understand what it meant now, even though I also felt like I was just stealing it off of Brick.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

(Sergeant 'Zero', 11:50 EST 05/10/2035, location: Unknown)

I put one last spoonful of mashed potatoes on my plate, filling up what remaining space was left, before pouring gravy from the ladle over the sausages, potatoes, and mixed vegetables on my plate. Say what you want, but X-Com do well to get good food on board, even if half the meals end up just being potatoes, it sure beat the diet I had been on whilst I was away. I guess I took it for granted a bit too much. I turned around, to see the rest of the group I was down here with finding a free table. I sat down alongside Deadbolt, with Kassara, Brick, Echo, and Venom all sitting around the circular table, leaving a free space next to me. Kassara gave me a quick smile as she sat down, which I returned very briefly. It had been a lot easier around her since the Doctor's therapy session, it felt like it may have been finally back to normal. Maybe even better than how it was.

"Ah, it's been a while since we've just been able to sit down and chat properly" Deadbolt commented, laying his cutlery either side of his tray, looking around at us. "Guess it goes to show how busy everyone has been recently"

"It's mostly because Zero's been away, and you've been busy chasing Elena, Deadbolt" Venom jabbed, speaking through his mouthful to deliver the joke. "Well, and Kassara has just never been around either"

"Yeah, she's been a little preoccupied" Brick gave a short giggle in response. I glanced towards Kassara, pretty much at the same time as she looked over towards me. We both noticed Brick's slight outburst, at least. Echo kept silent herself, continuing with her food, but Brick had gained the attention of everyone else.

"Oh, have you been keeping her busy Brick?" Deadbolt grinned. "You two were always a little inseparable" He flicked his fork between the two of them, since they were already sat next to each other.

"No, of course not" Kassara interjected before Brick could continue. This is exactly what I thought would happen, it was her MO, to just let little comments linger that were suggestive. "I've just been busy at the firing range. Don't want to miss a shot if I can help it"

"Well, seemed like it paid off on your mission to the Templars, at least. I remember when the Commander's camera gremlin went up the stairs, and there were just dead Advent everywhere" Venom marveled. "Can't have all been Geist, right?"

"He gave me too much credit, he did the hard work. I'm just happy we got out alive" Kassara dismissed. It was interesting how humble she was being, she had told me in plenty of detail two days back exactly what happened, how she was proud of herself because she potentially saved Geist's life. And here she was downplaying the whole thing.

"Greetings" A distorted, warped voice interrupted the conversation from behind me. "I saw a free seat here, I would like to join you at the table"

I turned around to face the source of the voice, being met with a figure clad in white armor that looked eerily similar to Advent armor, with red highlights around the utility belt pockets, and a small section of his torso, but he had no helmet on, revealing a humanoid head, except all of the features looked modified or distorted. His eyes were wider set than you would expect on a normal human, and glowed with a ferocious deep yellow color. Raised marks adorned the top of his eyes, like eyebrows, and it looked like something had been literally dug into the side of his skull, like an augment or something, 3 small white plates linking a scar down the side of his head. His nose, instead of protruding from his face, was more parallel to it, scrunched up slightly. It was slightly disturbing upon first glance because I had never seen it before, not in person at least. I had always been told of the warped features of the Advent troops from other soldiers on board the Avenger, but the Skirmisher stood behind me was something else altogether.

"Of course" Brick motioned towards the seat next to me. "Sorry about a couple of days back, by the way. I don't think we really got off on the right foot. Brick" She began, leaning across the table to extend her arm in a handshake. He accepted, briskly taking her hand and giving a sharp shake, before returning his hands to himself. He had no tray, he was just sat at the table to talk to us.

"Mox. And agreed, I did not foresee the presence of a Templar on board the Avenger, let alone to see someone blindly defending him" He responded. It was hard to place, but there was almost something mechanical to his voice, the way he talked, he showed very little emotion in his face, despite how emotionally loaded his question actually was, just staring at Brick.

"Well, we could all do without the demonization of other soldiers on board the ship, Mox." Echo chimed in, deadpan, earning little more than a glimpse from the white armored soldier. He merely gazed over towards Brick and Kassara, as he answered carefully.

"Don't be fooled by their ornate appearances and demeanors. They have their own pet names for us: Elder puppets, clones, the unworthy. Ironic, for a cult built around harnessing the power of the Elders, that they insult us as their creations, and treat us as though we are nothing more than that. The power is already in their heads, it's only a matter of time before they make the grab for power themselves." He spoke quickly, sharply, almost spitting at every name the Templars gave them. Getting the factions to work together would be another challenge entirely, by the looks of it. Elena hated Kassara, and vice versa probably, and Taiya, the new Templar, hated Mox. It was fairly easy to see that they would cause problems in the future, but if the Commander is happy with it, I can't really speak for them.

"Regardless, my views on the Templars are moot. Viper, it is truly good to see you, despite the tales Elena has sung of you, it is good to see another of the Elder's stock awaken to the truth of who they actually are" He changed the topic, nodding his head down towards Kassara. I could see her puzzle over what he said. Admittedly, I think it was a genuine compliment, but the way he phrased it almost insinuated her devotion to the Elders, rather than X-Com. And I don't think she particularly liked being called part of the 'Elder's stock', regardless of the fact that it was true.

"It's Kassara. It's interesting to see a clone of the humans they kill serve and then break free of his bonds. What causes you to decide to leave?" She answered back, giving him a treatment similar to the treatment he showed her, it was almost like insulting them behind the guise of a question.

"Very well then, Kassara. Betos was the first of our kind, she broke away when the chip that they plant into the soldier of Advent started to malfunction, as she was going to be killed. After breaking away, she was able to see the wrong of Advent, the harm done by the Elders on the humans. What even were we, but the amalgamation of mixed genetics to look vaguely human? But even with the seeds of doubt sewn, we needed to find a way to remove the chips that stopped us from leaving"

"Do clones not all think the same though? Surely Advent would have you all terminated once they realized you all thought this way" She argued back. I noticed that she still called him a clone, despite the fact that he already said he saw it as an insult. I daresay, but it may be the case that she almost viewed them as robots, beings that had no ability to think for themselves. Did she even care when we terminated all the Vipers at the facility we breached? Maybe she thought it was good that all of those creatures died.

"Please, we may be clones of each other, but each is still an individual. We retain all we were, plus whatever we gain along the way. Only a small amount are aware of the truth behind Advent, the truth behind our lives, that we are nothing but puppets to act out the Elder's will. An even smaller fraction do something about it." He sighed, disheartenedly, clasping his hands together in front of him. I looked over to Kassara, I could see the cogs turning together in her head as she absorbed the words, everyone else silent, but listening intently. Brick eventually broke the silence, nobody else willing to, not even Kassara.

"So...How do you remove the chips?" She enquired, leaning forward slightly as she gained his attention. "I mean, would Advent know when they are severed?"

"Yes, they are aware as soon as you break the connection. The chips are psionically tracked, but the chip malfunctions with a short range EMP burst. It practically completely severs the connection and fries the computer." He began to explain, pointing repeatedly to his head as if mimicking what happened to the chip as if it were still inside his head. "Once that happens, the soldier can finally call themselves 'free'. Of course, the chip needs to be removed. Not all that undergo this separation join our cause, but most do. They want nothing but to right the wrongs they have once committed. It's been over 15 years, and we are still not trusted by those we fight with."

"You mean the Reapers and the Templars?" I interrupted.

"Correct. My actions to make peace with the Reapers is the first time two of our kind have met face to face to talk. It is truly a step in the right direction, our forces combined are stronger than the sum of our strength separated."

"And the Templars?" Kassara questioned, Mox hesitating as he turned to face her, doubt evident in her bright eyes, as he broke eye contact from her, sighing loudly.

"If they can change their ways. We cannot aid each other whilst there remains the doubt that one will kill the other. And your Templars are too proud to consider a truce an option. Even though the Reapers could, ironic, isn't it, that the most extreme faction can see the light in a bunch of 'Elder Puppets'."

"But not an Alien Traitor" Kassara returned, earning his gaze a second time. He seemed pensive talking to her, it was almost like her was showing a great deal of respect, considering she was borderline insulting him a few minutes ago.

"I cannot speak for how she, or the Reapers think. Aliens are known to be good infiltrators, the trust with your kind does not come so easily. You have earned the trust I show to you, even with Elena's disposition with you, she was honest enough about your actions. I believe they don't want Aliens on their planet, they want the entirety of Advent gone, you must understand. I suppose their doubts lie on us, as we had no option in our presence on Earth" He hypothesized, seeming to mull over his own words. "Maybe not. But Elena has been fairly clear that she despises the Alien races more so than she ever did the Skirmishers."

"Well, regardless, I suppose welcome to X-Com, Mox. I know you already know Deadbolt, Kassara and myself, but the others are Echo, and Zero" Brick interjected, before Kassara could respond once more, pointing to Echo and myself in turn as she introduced us. "We need all the help we can get to win the fight"

"Thank you, Brick. I just hope I am able to aid X-Com in whichever way they need me to, I do not plan on letting you down" He nodded in response, not even a smile flitting across his features. I could see so many behaviors that he displayed that could easily lead to him being called a clone even more, the deadpan voice, the lack of expression, it was almost like he was reading facts from a piece of paper. But it betrayed how individualistic he was, how much he could express himself beyond his body, at least. I was going to continue talking, but I noticed Kassara break her attention away from Mox, looking up towards the cafeteria doors. I turned as well, to see what she noticed, which turned out to be Elena and Golbin, quickly making their way over to us in a B-line. I could see Kassara tensing up as they approached, ready for a fight. I just hoped Elena wasn't going to start one, cause Kassara was definitely ready for it.

"Mox" She gave a small nod, as she approached the table. "There's a new mission, Bradford's sent word for Mox, Kassara, Zero and Echo to join, along with Goblin" She announced, seemingly ignoring Kassara's presence, apart from calling out her name. She seemed to be avoiding even looking at her at all.

"Wait, what mission?" Deadbolt quickly asked as Mox and I both stood up, tucking our chairs back in under the table after us almost in synchrony, Kassara and Echo getting up a little slower than us.

"The Templars sent through the message they received on the same frequency they communicated with the fourth resistance group on. They said it was jumbled, but it gave the location in coordinates, which wasn't damaged by the transmission. Bradford knows the message, not me, but it should just be a meet and greet, but we need to be careful. It's just us five this time." Goblin explained briefly, thankfully neither of them deciding to take issue with Kassara. I couldn't help but feel that if we were to find the fourth resistance group, it would only end up in more arguments on board the Avenger, they all seemed to hold fairly radical viewpoints so far.

We walked down to the armory as a group, Mox mostly talking to Goblin whilst the rest of us stayed silent, though Goblin was just asking him more about the Skirmishers. It was comical that he probably had to talk about the Skirmishers to everyone he met first on the Avenger. We all geared up, taking our usual items, back to my old Sniper rifle, with my attachments, before we headed out to the hangar to meet Bradford.

"Alright squad, this should be a quick mission, but the nature of the message we received has us with a couple of concerns, so go down and be ready for a fight. The message we got from the Templars is:  
"Meeting... Bring soldiers...Beware...Hunted...Aliens...prepare" He listed from a piece of paper in his hands. "This, and the coordinates is all that is discernible from the transmission. As you can see, it is not clean at all, and this gives us very little information. For all we know, it could very well be a trap, though I suppose Advent would make it less obvious if it actually was one. So stay sharp, keep your eyes and ears open, and listen to the Commander. And with that quick brief, we loaded up to the Skyranger, ready for our next mission.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 12:27 EST, 05/10/2035, Location: South Africa)

"We're setting down, get yourselves ready" The pilot called over the comms. Everybody all grabbed their gear and readied upon the cue. As the ramp opened up, the bright evening sun shone straight into our eyes, causing everyone except myself and Goblin to shield their eyes with their hands, before they jumped for the rope. As I descended, I could see how dusty it looked underneath us, our drop zone was behind a small building at the edge of a large, spacious compound, which consisted of a lot of shipping containers, though I was too high up to see anything from where I was.

I could feel the grittiness of the ground underneath me as I landed, the sandy surface easily got in between my scales, but it didn't hurt, so I ignored the odd feeling. The small building we were near looked like a guard outpost of some sort, it wasn't too big, but it must have regulated who came in and out of the compound at some point, judging by the wire fences, now torn and broken, that looked like they once surrounded the area.

"Alright squad, let's move up" Bradford's voice crackled on my comm, as we were each individually ordered where to go. We slowly, cautiously made our way through the entrance of the compound, a few broken cars and lamp posts providing cover, aside from the numerous containers, all of a blue or yellow color mostly. We weren't facing the sun, thankfully, but it remained to our side, so the glare of the light wouldn't affect us too much.

"Hostile ahead" Goblin called out, as he approached the side of a white van, which still looked in decent condition. "Viper...can't see the rest of her pod" He relayed. He must have been referring to the fact that we grouped up to patrol, they must have been used to it. I switched my rifle to sniper setting, ready to be asked to shoot. Zero was currently holding higher ground at the back, currently stood on top of a shipping container, with no cover, but he was far back enough that if we were fired upon, he shouldn't be shot at.

"They must have already moved. They said they were being hunted, they are nomadic for a reason. If we take these Advent troops down, maybe we can give our friends a little more breathing room" Bradford suggested.

"Zero, have you got a shot?" I heard the Commander ask.

"Yes"

"Take it. Echo on overwatch, everyone else get ready to respond" They ordered. I watched Zero begin to line up his shot on the stationary Viper, who was stood in the open, leaning back on a forklift, side on from us, so it was a clean shot. She held her weapon lazily by her side, and I couldn't help but think of how indolent she must be, for a peacekeeper, to be so lax. I suppose there was no public around here. And to be apart from her squad, this was probably punishable.

I watched ahead of me as I heard Zero's shot loose behind me, looking at the Viper, as she reacted to the sound, for a very brief moment, her head turned in our direction, before Zero's round found the Viper's head, her body falling back under the force and hitting the side of the forklift, spitting out dust and sand into the air as she fell to the ground dead.

"More contacts ahead" Brick called out, as Aliens quickly filtered out from behind the shipping containers the Viper was close to. I counted about 7 come out, all either Mutons, Sectoids, or Vipers, running to find cover before we could shoot at them, some finding full cover behind shipping containers, others opting for more revealed positions, to avoid grouping up. Echo shot her shotgun at a Viper as she came into view, but the Viper quickly changed her direction as she saw her line up the shot, resulting in a miss. A Muton in low cover proceeded to fire several rounds towards Goblin's position, cracking off of the bumper of the van he was hiding behind.

"I'm being suppressed! I can't move!" He called out. In reaction, Brick was told to shoot at the Muton, her rounds almost tracing his outline as he fired, before he went back into cover, still blind-firing at Goblin's position. I heard Bradford through the comms order me to shoot at a Viper located somewhat near the back, behind little cover. I looked down my scope, watching for her movements to fall under my scope, and I could take her out. But her armor caught my eye, the shade cast by her own body stopped the glint of the sun off of her armor, and I could see that what looked like Advent armor, was actually a silvery grey color, they had scraped off the paint, even if they still held their Advent weapons, I slowly came to the realization that the Aliens we were fighting weren't a squad hunting the resistance, they weren't a patrol of the outskirts of Advent territory. They were the resistance.

"Commander...I think we've made a big mistake" I breathed back into my communications device, a heavy weight settling slowly in my chest, as I put my weapon back down, not firing on my target.

"Cease fire!" A loud, hoarse call came from in front of us, the female voice obviously strained at calling so loud. I saw a Viper rush out in the no man's land in between us, her hands raised as she dashed between us, turning around to her own side. "Cease fire!" Quickly, the bullets suppressing Goblin stopped, allowing her to slowly turn back towards us.

"Commander! What is the meaning of this!?" She demanded, obviously fraught at what had just happened. An eerie silence filled the comm channel, as everybody quickly came to the same realization I had just made. I left my gun where I stood, as I made my way towards my sister, the one Zero had shot, past the shocked Viper stood in the middle of the two groups, watching me go past. It didn't take much to imagine the damage done by the large, superheated alloy round to the Viper, it made me feel queasy just thinking about it, but seeing it was almost something else. I approached the dead Viper, the Aliens starting to surround the body, with a Viper sprawled out in the sand, sobbing into the chest plate of her fallen ally, her arms wrapped around her midsection, clutching tightly. Both of the Vipers on the floor had their individual markings, the one crying had brown splotches adorning her scales, whilst the other had wavy white markings down her more yellow body. They weren't clones at all. They were like me, they were questioning their beliefs, their allegiances. And she was killed for her beliefs, by her own side, by those that should have been helping her. I could see the judging, glaring eyes of the Aliens as I approached, of the Vipers, the Sectoids, the Mutons. They knew what the large sigil on my armor stood for, as I watched the Viper continue to cry. I didn't know what I could do, what I could say, if I did, I was going to make it worse, so I just stood there, watching on hopelessly, as the other Aliens did, some hugging each other to offer support. I even saw one Human burying their face into the chest of a Sectoid, so as to not have to look at the scene in front of her.

"Oh my god..." I heard Zero over the comms, almost blanking out to the world around me, but just awake enough to pay attention. "I...killed her..." I could hear the despair in his voice, I don't know how I would be feeling if I was the one ordered to take the shot. I turned around to see the Viper who called the ceasefire still stood in the center of the field, I could see her chest going in and out, she was scared. I watched Brick follow my actions, placing her gun down, as she slowly approached the Viper in the center. The other soldiers seemed to take the chance to disarm themselves, walking out of their covers, as they watched me and Brick, from a distance.

"X-Com will pay for this" I heard a voice behind me, I could tell it was from one of the Mutons, the gruffness of their voice wasn't achievable by Vipers, and from what I knew, Sectoids couldn't talk, they could only talk telepathically, aside from cackling noises they often made. I turned around to face the group, all eyes on me. I felt lost, I couldn't respond, we had no defense.

"I'm sorry" I mumbled, the only words I could find, but I know they meant nothing to them. I turned away, not able to watch anymore, not able to look at the results of our actions any longer. I walked towards Brick, who was communicating with the Viper, possibly their leader, obviously providing the communicative link between the Commander and the Viper.

"I send a message to X-Com offering our cooperation, we sent word that we are 'Aliens', why would you shoot without checking the target first!" I heard her complaining as we came in. She wore the same silvered armor that the other Vipers wore, the scratch marks clear on it, to identify themselves as separate. The diamond pattern down her back was all too familiar though, she was a clone. A million thoughts were rushing through my head, I was still trying to understand how the Skirmishers thoughts differently to each other, but this was a clone of my own species leading the resistance movement of Aliens. For all I know, she is still working for Advent, maybe as a spy to root out defectors.

"The message was garbled, we didn't receive a cease-fire order on Aliens, it appeared to be the opposite. Please, accept our apologies, this is a tragic misunderstanding" Brick repeated the words of the Commander I could hear through my comms.

"Your apologies aren't going to bring her back!" She thrashed, her fists balled up as she snapped aggressively at Brick. "How can I offer our aid to a group that has come in and killed one of my own. I would be mutinied against by the entirety of the Liberated"

"The Liberated?" I interjected, as I heard the silence of the Commander in my ear. I watched her turn away from Brick to face me, looking me up and down, lingering at my armor. I could see her try to take a breath to calm down.

"Yes, we are the Liberated, we are free of our duty to the Elders. I go by the name Athissa, and I lead us. Advent oppresses everybody; humans, Mutons, Vipers, Sectoids alike. Nobody has it easy under the rule of the Elders, where one can be punished by death just for thoughts that are against them. We provide refuge to those who have escaped Advent's grasp, try and provide a sanctuary, no matter their race. We use the fact that we look like them to sabotage them from the inside, spread propaganda, take down communications, and plant the seeds of distrust in those that live under Advent control." She explained, trying to measure herself as she spoke, but the more she explained, the more emotion seeped back into her voice. "We provide respite to all races...but the few humans we get do not stay long. I can understand, but it is a shame none the less. We are forced to continuously move because we are hunted by a being of light. He strikes when we don't expect it. Similar to your attack today. He is a Sniper, it's like a game to him. We have to run, or he would pick us off one by one."

She didn't speak like a clone, she spoke ideas that appeared to be her own, with a noticeable passion behind them, it conflicted with what I knew about them from my days as a guard.

"My people will ask for your blood, for this" She warned, turning back to face Brick. "If you want our help, I think it is just and fair that I get your help beforehand. As a sort of reparation for this attack"

"Of course. What do you need" Brick agreed, again copying the words of the Commander in her ear once more. Brick was being quite professional about it, but I could just see her unease in her face, that she was upset with the situation too. I think the Athissa realized this too, but her underlying anger at us was all too evident.

"The Sniper behind this, and your Viper," She jammed her finger in my direction as she spoke about me. "To work with one of my squads to liberate a Viper being held by Advent. She's to be killed soon, and I'm sure your troops can help us do what will otherwise be a near impossible task."

I saw Brick hesitate as she conveyed the Commander's next words, phrasing it carefully compared to what the Commander said. "We can't hand over our Sniper who did this, X-Com can't risk their safety by handing him over to you, when it was our Commander who gave the call to take the shot"

"And I will let everyone know that will be the case, and tell them that no harm is to come to him. He will not be at the camp for most of his indebted time, but I see it only as fair, Commander" She hissed back at Brick, addressing the person relaying the information rather than the one stood in front of her.

"We can't risk Zero like that" I heard Bradford debate immediately over the comms. "She said it herself, they will want his blood"

"We don't have a choice" Brick interrupted, turning away from Athissa as she argued back. "We owe them our help, if this is how they want it, we have to oblige. What are you going to suggest, that we leave them, having come here and killed one of them?" Athissa watched her, with slight amusement flitting across her features, before Brick turned back around, nodding confidently at her. "We will get him to you. He's pretty shaken up about this, so please give him some time whilst the situation diffuses somewhat, as in, away from everybody else here."

"He's not leaving back on the ship, if he is to help" She again ordered. I knew she was trying to take what she could get from X-Com, I understood that it was only fair, really, that she was asking for our assistance in return for us murdering one of her own, but she was trying to take what she could get without any bargaining, I could respect that a little.

"I meant with Kassara here, on the compound, away from the rest of the Aliens here"

"I suppose that is only fair, then" She agreed, nodding. Her demeanor had settled slightly, away from the more distressed, frantic one, to a more settled mood, but she was still visibly upset. "We have the supplies here to keep them fed, and we'll get them to the mission quickly, I shall not need them for more than a few days. Once the mission is complete, we can talk about helping X-Com"

"Hang on, I thought us giving you Zero and Kassara meant you were helping us" Brick burst back at Athissa. "This isn't what we agreed on"

"I'm saying, that if we are able to complete our mission, then I will consider your debt to be paid, and we can resume talking about how we can help you. Now, if you don't mind, I've got another one of my sisters to bury" Athissa finalized with a huff, turning away from Brick, who was already burying her face in her hand, and heading back over to where the group of Aliens still surrounded the body, though a few of them had obviously left, there were still a pair of Vipers trying to coerce the grieving Viper away, but it didn't seem to be accomplishing much.

"That really could have gone better" I heard her groan, taking her hand from her face, taking a moment to take a breath, avoiding my gaze. "I feel awful, I need a rest and a lot of drink" She sighed, turning back, walking towards the rest of the squad. I grabbed my gun from where I left is, as did Brick with her mag canon, catching up with me as we headed back. Echo and Mox were waiting for us to return, their grimaces were visible from here, even Mox had taken his helmet off, possibly to get some air.

"Some first mission" I sighed to Mox, who nodded solemnly in agreement, his amber eyes and rigid facial expression betraying how I think he really felt.

"I did not expect this to be the outcome, no. I thought the Skirmishers were the only group that had defectors, I had never heard of an Alien fighting against the Elders before you. There's nothing more to do than move on and continue the fight. It will be a shame if this gets in the way of our cooperation, we need to be united to fight the Elders" He concluded. Nobody wanted to say anything, we just stood in a collective silence, appreciating the feeling of emptiness I think we all shared.

"Where's Zero? We need to get him before we head off. Him and Kassara are to stay here and help the Liberated in return." Brick asked, mumbling her words as she spoke.

"Goblin's talking to him at the building near the compound entrance. He's a little upset" Echo replied steadily, motioning to the building behind her in question. "Not sure if he's really helping, but I'm not gonna get involved."

Brick glanced towards me, as a silent offer for me to come along, which I took immediately. I felt awful about what happened, I'm not sure how much of that was because it was my sister that was killed, but I know everyone shared how I felt, but I couldn't imagine the weight on Zero's shoulders. He was the one who pulled the trigger after all.

I could hear Goblin's voice as we approached the building, the door to it was wide open, with Zero's gun on the ground outside, speaking loud enough for us to hear, but I could tell it was a more comforting tone he was using.

"Come on, you just need to move past it. It wasn't your fault she died, to you she was another of Advent, that's all any of us knew. They were just as ready to kill us, as well." He said, I could hear him as we approached the door, seeing him with his hand on Zero's shoulder, kneeling down at Zero's huddled figure, sat with his back against the wall with his knees tucked into his chest. I could see the tears in his eyes, as he looked up at us approaching, before putting his head back into his arms. I could see his headset that the human's wore was discarded by his side, so he wouldn't even know of what was happening. Goblin glanced up towards us, as we came in, standing up from Zero to address us.

"Leave him be for a bit, he needs some time to himself." He shook his head. "I think I'm only making it worse"

"It's okay, you tried. We need to get him to come with us to the Aliens here, they want him to stay here with Kassara to help with a mission they had planned, but don't seem to have the firepower or manpower for." Brick explained softly, holding the same solemn mood she had earlier.

"He's staying here? With them? Who came up with this idea" He protested.

"Them. That's their terms that they wanted in response to us killing one of them" I replied, earning Goblin's patented glare of contempt. "Who agreed to it?"

"I did. We don't have a choice here, Goblin, it's fair that we do something to make up for what happened, the Commander owes them that, and they know it" Brick interjected before Goblin made his accusations. He shook his head, looking back at Zero briefly, before turning to me.

"Listen here, Snake. If any harm comes to Zero, and I mean any, I am holding _you_ personally responsible. He did not ask for this, he does not deserve this, and it's your job to protect him from these bloody Aliens. I don't want another member of X-Com being hurt because of you, you understand?" He threatened, lowering his voice so only Brick and I could hear.

"Loud and clear" I hissed back scathingly, his face uncomfortably close to mine. I could feel my hatred for this being begin to override the emptiness I felt before, as I felt my jaw clenching reflexively to his aggression. Brick walked past us towards Zero, trying to coerce him to get up, pulling at his arms slightly, as he got himself up. His hair looked like it was in more of a mess than it usually was, his face a bright red, and the tear streaks etched his face, despite the water being wiped away. He sniffed a few times as Brick walked him towards us, her arm wrapped around his neck and shoulder, in a sort of sideways hug. I grabbed Zero's weapon, as we left, Golbin heading off behind us, Brick walking Zero back towards where we had seen the Viper.

"Their leader said you can stay apart from everyone with Kassara for a bit, until you gather yourself, but she wants to know you are here before we leave."

"I don't want to stay here" He mumbled in return, sighing as he wiped at his nose again.

"I know, but we don't have a choice here. Come on, you know it wasn't your fault, it's the Commander's. Nobody blames you for what happened, nobody, okay?" She consoled.

"I know, Goblin said the same thing" He murmured back, Brick nodding in understanding, leaving silence to manage Zero as we made our way back to the Liberated. I could see ahead of us Athissa waiting, watching us approaching, as we agreed, the other Aliens had gone off, leaving just her to face us.

"So you're the one who killed Raina?" She began, before we had even got close to talk to her properly. So much for nobody blaming him for what happened. I glanced towards Zero, who had closed his eyes, sucking his lower lip in, ready for her words. I wish I could do something to help him, to take away how he felt. He didn't deserve it. "She had a life here, Sniper. She had friends, family-"

"He knows, you don't need to do this" Brick interrupted, scowling at Athissa.

"No! He needs to know what he has done, he needs to be aware," She raised her voice at Brick. I could see her almost gritting her teeth in response to Athissa shouting at her, but she was holding back. She directed her attention back at Zero, her words accentuated harshly as she hissed at him. "She had a partner! And you took her away from us, from those who cared about her! Understand that I speak for everyone here that it is _you_ who has taken a special person from all of us!"

"I know..." He whimpered in return, fresh tears coming to his eyes. I watched Brick turn in front of him, holding his shoulders, and pulling him into her in hug, as she glared back at Athissa.

"Let me make it very clear that if I had my way, if anyone had their way, that you would have paid with your life for what you did. Nobody deserves the death you gave to Raina, nobody deserves to feel the loss we all feel for her, because you couldn't check your targets!" She ranted, her voice staggering with her own emotion as she stood proudly in front of us, her lips raised very slightly in a viperlike snarl, her eyes burning embers, accentuated only by the soon to be setting sun, reflecting off of her scales, the dust kicked up into the air from our movement almost made them seem seraphic in nature.

"He gets it!" I snapped back at her, I had enough of her intolerance of his situation, as she bore her eyes down on me. I spoke before she had the chance to respond. "We are helping to make up in whatever way we can for what was a tragedy, and nobody's fault! You should not look for a target to blame, and focus on what to do to giving peace to the victim"

"You clearly don't understand how we feel, how any of us feel. You have been subjugated so much by X-Com that you lack any empathy for your sisters" She growled back at me. "And you call yourself a Viper" How dare she accuse me of such things, my ability to see both sides of the picture does not give her the right to say that. She can see how bad a state Zero was in, and she says that I don't have empathy.

"You call yourself a leader, collect yourself and act like one!" I shot back, giving my own snarl back to her, as she flicked her tongue out angrily, obviously holding back another response, as she glared at me. She paused for a small while, staring me down, both of us unblinking, before she took a short breath, turning back towards the others.

"I have been told that I must protect you from harm from my group, and that is what I shall do, don't make it any harder for me to uphold such a promise" She threatened, more calmly. I shook my head, I couldn't believe the Viper that stood in front of me, she needed to control herself.

"Well, you're all getting along well then" Brick chirped, trying to defuse the situation, peeling Zero from her, his face looked like a mess, his eyes, where they were usually a plain white colour, had red streaks throughout them, it looked painful, his lips distorted in a fixed grimace. "I will leave them with you, please, for the sake of both the Liberated and X-Com, treat them justly, they are not guilty of anything, our Commander is. Don't make it harder along the path ahead of us" She finalized, giving a small nod to me, before she headed off, leaving us in the company of the witch that stood in front of me.

"I have agreed to give you both some time before you settle in with the Liberated. You will find me in the small green tent, that's where I reside," she said through gritted teeth. "There is food, when you are ready to face what you've caused" She turned away, heading past the shipping containers that we had seen the Viper by, the ground still clearly stained by her blood. Zero was still rubbing tears from his eyes, sniffling as he did so. Everybody had taken it heavily, tempers were raised, we just had to let it settle before we got our food as promised by Athissa.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 13:03 EST, 05/10/2035, Location: South Africa)

"Hey, you okay?" Kassara asked, interrupting me from my thoughts. I just had the image of the Viper in my scope repeating in my mind, remembering pulling the trigger. Hollow didn't begin to describe how I felt.

"I'm okay" I replied, though even I knew it didn't sound convincing. She looked at me wistfully, giving a short sigh.

"Come on, sit down." She told me, extending her arm towards the bright yellow shipping container. I obeyed, sliding down the corrugated metal to the floor. Kassara coiled herself up in front of me, so we were roughly the same height, glancing towards me momentarily, before she stared towards the setting sun, in silence. I was still wiping tears from my eyes, and my nose was running like a river, an endless stream. I must have looked a mess.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this..." I apologized to her, watching her look down towards me briefly, quickly diverting her attention back towards the sun.

"It's fine. Stay here as long as you need, we can go back into the camp whenever you're ready," She replied monotonously. The evening sun cast orange rays of light onto her armor, making it appear like a slightly orange hue, though it was still clear it was silver. It gave her scales a golden look, it looked quite pretty. "There's no rush"

"Thanks"

I remained silent, looking down into the ground as I let the scathing words of the Viper eat into me, boring underneath my skin. I felt disgusting, like I was dirty on the inside. I can't remember the last time I felt this awful. As soon as I got inside the camp, I would be demolished, I didn't trust the word of the Viper who was shouting me down for what I had done, I didn't trust that I wasn't going to be attacked. If only I'd spent a little longer looking down my scope. Maybe...maybe I would have noticed she wasn't Advent. This whole thing could have been avoided. No matter which way you looked at it, it was my fault. No matter what Brick or Goblin said. I needed to own my mistake. Somehow. I needed to distract myself, I think I preferred a conversation to the dreadful silence.

"It's a nice sunset, isn't it?" I offered. She didn't turn to look at me, continuing to look into the horizon.

"It's nice. I used to really like watching them when I was a guard. Especially in the Summer. They used to paint the sky such vibrant colors, it didn't matter how many times I saw them, it was always a nice distraction" She replied, smiling softly. "Haven't seen one in a while, I guess, being on board the Avenger"

"You know, we have a deck on top of the Avenger, you can go onto the top of the ship whenever we are landed scanning something" I suggested. I had never been up there myself, but Brick said it looked nice.

"Huh. Didn't know. Do you...want to talk?" She asked, this time turning to face me, she looked concerned, to say the least.

"About this? No. I want to forget what I did" I sighed solemnly. I had stopped my tears, and my nose wasn't running anymore, but I must have still looked fairly disheveled, to say the least. She nodded in understanding, not pressing the matter any further. Around 15 minutes passed of us sitting in our silence, the sun gradually setting over the horizon, over the shipping containers that blocked our view, the orange hue of the sky slowly turning to a more blue color. It wasn't night yet, but it would be shortly. The thoughts didn't really leave, but they were getting less painful to run through each time. I would try to think of something else, but the only thing that kept my attention long enough was thinking of Kassara, not that I wanted to admit it. Especially not with her coiled up next to me, it felt twice as weird thinking back to what happened, with her nearby.

"Oh, you two _are_ still here" I heard a relieved voice to my left. I watched Kassara snap around to face the leader, quickly uncoiling back up to her full height, watching her closely.

"What is it, Athissa?" Kassara asked, her voice apprehensive, ready to defend me again.

"I thought you had both done a runner on me. It's been half an hour, and I haven't seen you at all. Look, I...should apologize, for myself earlier" Athissa sighed, glancing down towards me as she spoke.

"You think?" Kassara retorted.

"I know, I know. Please understand, I was upset, I had just lost someone I was close to. Your gunner was right, I need to think ahead, not in the present. I can get your food brought over here for you, if you would like, to stay away from the rest of the Liberated."

"It's okay" I interjected. "We'll come over now. Could you show us back?" I saw Kassara turn towards me hesitantly, obviously not liking what I suggested, but we needed to get it over with. Face our walk of shame, as it were.

"Of course. We aren't set up too far away" She nodded. Athissa seemed like a completely different person now she had calmed down, maybe she was trying to make amends for the altercations earlier, as an attempt to win us back over. Maybe she realized that our interests were her interests, if we were to help them in freeing a prisoner.

"Tell us about the mission" I asked, standing up slowly, my muscles aching, partially from the fact I had been sat down. Kassara still seemed hesitant, but followed us as we walked towards the camp.

"We've found information when we hacked into the Advent network from one of the small cities nearby that told us that they were transporting a Viper to one of the prison cells further away. She was arrested for 'civil disobedience', so chances are, she isn't a fighter, and must have said something that pissed off an Advent guard. Or worse, an official. Either way, we want to attack the Convoy whilst it heads through the area. We have a choke point on where we were going to attack, and the area is perfect for snipers, however, the Advent weapons are inaccurate at longer ranges, and have no scopes either." She explained. "So you will be very helpful. And I chose Kassara because it would be easier having an human and a viper here, instead of two humans."

"I'm a sniper, also" Kassara quickly quipped. I watched as Athissa looked back at her, the top of her brow area furrowing slightly, as much as it could on a viper.

"But the Advent weapons don't allow for it" She argued, disbelieving her statement. Kassara simply pulled up her gun from her side, showing it Athissa with both of her hands. Athissa stopped moving, turning around to look at the gun. "May I?"

"Of course" Kassara nodded. Athissa gently took the gun into her own hands, as if she was carrying a relic, almost. She adjusted for the heavier weight quickly, inspecting the weapon in front of her, her face lighting up with interest. The plasma was currently not filtered down the prongs, indicating it was in submachine mode. Kassara leaned over the gun, flicking the switch for Athissa, as the plasma filtered down the barrel again, the light from the gun only highlight the awe that Athissa had for the weapon. She raised the weapon to her shoulder, looking down the scope herself, aiming back towards the entrance to the compound, possibly looking for the building again.

"That's...immense..." She breathed, offering the weapon back to Kassara. "And this is X-Com's customized gun for you?"

"Yes. It is an adaptation from the standard Advent rifles" Kassara replied, moving her head forward slightly to signify that we should continue. Athissa quickly started moving again, seemingly hesitating to say what she wanted to.

"I wonder if it would be possible to ask for X-Com to upgrade all of our weaponry similarly. This would give us a superior edge whenever we engage. Maybe we could even give the Sniper a run for his money" She hissed with pleasure. What Sniper? What was she on about? She wasn't talking about me...was she?

"The Hunter. The last of the Elder's fighters. We have met two others already. You can't kill them" Kassara broke the news, informing both me and Athissa.

"Unkillable?" Athissa frowned. We were starting to enter into the camp now, the array of tents that they lived in getting closer, forming neat lines of small, mostly black tents, they must have been able to house 3 or 4 at most. It was easy to see that they had started a fire, the smoke coming up into the air from behind the front row of the tents, still somewhat visible against the darkening sky.

"Yes. 'Killing them' merely stops them for a short while. We 'killed' one of the chosen, nothing remained of them, we can only assume they left after they were defeated. They'll be back, I'm sure." Kassara continued. As we passed into the camp, I could see the aliens that resided here, some were huddled in a small group around the fire I saw earlier, mostly Vipers and Sectoids, but a few Mutons were a part of the group. Judging from their expressions, they were still mourning. Seeing them washed a new wave of guilt over me.

"Follow me. You can eat your food in my tent," Athissa said to us, leading us away from the group, from other Aliens standing around, peering out of their tents at us. They hated us, I could tell, just from their glowering looks towards us. I couldn't see a single human in the camp so far, they were all aliens, as far as I was aware "We steal a lot of food from Advent, so we have a fairly steady supply coming in, of both meat and vegetables"

Athissa lead us to her tent, leaving briefly to get our food, leaving us to look at where she lived. I expected something a bit grander, I guess, for a leader of a resistance group, but the small mattress on the floor, and a bunch of papers held down underneath her rifle gave away that they got by on very little. It wasn't like the Templars, who lived in solitude in great buildings, though the conditions of the Reapers were slightly more comparable. She came back carrying two paper plates in her hands, both with plenty of meat, and a few vegetables on mine. There was bacon and sausages, along with some peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes on the side. It was arguably better than what X-Com could often get for us.

"I hope we can sit down and put behind us what happened. A fresh start, if you will" Athissa addressed, coiling herself up in a similar way that Kassara had earlier. Kassara and I followed suit, both getting comfortable on the floor of the tent to eat our food, picking at it with our fingers. "It is in both of our interests to work together, it would be silly to let it fall through now"

Kassara glanced towards her, clearly unsure of what to think of her. She had been screaming at us an hour ago, yet here she sat, trying to right what she viewed herself as doing wrong. We needed to do the same, if we were to make any headway here.

"Yes. We are all stronger together. I can't tell you how happy it has made me feel, knowing that I wasn't alone, I wasn't the only one of my kind." She agreed. "I wish we could look past this, show we are to be trusted."

I watched Athissa nod slowly, watching us both eat, she looked lost in thought. She didn't look like a leader. It was like she was being placed in that role, but didn't have an option about it. They were family to her. Every single one of them. It was no wonder she was so distressed earlier, no wonder how badly she reacted.

"I'm sorry, Athissa, for how I acted earlier, as well" Kassara began, breaking the silence that had begun to form. Her plate was still half full of meat, but she wasn't eating it all yet.

"What for? You were right" She shrugged in return. "I overreacted"

"For calling your leadership into question. It's not my place to do so" Kassara clarified hesitantly. "I was only trying to defend Zero"

"It's no matter. He's lucky to have someone like you helping him" She smiled back warmly. She seemed to be trying quite hard to be nice, to win us back over. It might have been working a little bit. Kassara simply laughed at Athissa's statement, grinning back at her.

"It's the other way around, I'm lucky to have him helping me. I wouldn't be at X-Com without him"

"Well, if you have the time to tell the story, I'd love to hear how you joined"

Kassara proceeded to start her story from the beginning, talking about her time at Advent, the fight where she was captured, her time in our 'prison', from the interviews to waking up to Advent's lies, her prison break of me, and the armor and weapon Shen made for her. She spared few details of what happened, and Athissa seemed to be listening intently to every word she said. Thankfully, Kassara tactfully left out her attempted escape in her descriptions, but told her of the distrust she faced onboard the Avenger, the other resistance faction, everything. It gave me enough time to finish what I was eating, I must admit that it had been one of the better meals I had had over the past month or so, I would be upset going back to the Avenger if I got used to the food here.

"...And so it was only a few days back that I was actually working with Zero here to get over his fear of Vipers. The Doctor put us through several situations to help him get more comfortable with me, and hopefully with other Vipers. I can only say I appreciated the opportunity to help him once more, and I'd like to think it paid off" Kassara finished, giving me a confident smile, which I returned the best I could. I'm glad she missed out the parts she did, but Athissa looked like she loved learning about Kassara, like she was some sort of magical being.

"It almost sounds like an adventure, Kassara. It must have been hard to come to terms with your beliefs surrounded by those you believed were your enemies" She poetically concluded. Kassara poked once more at her food, which must have gone a little cold already, but she didn't seem to mind much.

"I just never really opened my eyes to what was happening around me at Advent. I patrolled jails very rarely. Not once did I think to look into one of the cells. I patrolled Advent facilities, not once did I want to know what was inside. I lived in ignorance" She sighed dejectedly. "Nobody else I knew, clone or not, ever strayed from what we were told to do"

"Us 'clones', we're not dissimilar from the Skirmishers you speak of. We are born into the routine already grown, it's what we learn, it forms our core beliefs. And the Advent chips in our head only increase the control the Elders have on us" She pointed towards the back of her hood, it must have been where the chip was. "I can't describe it easily...it's like having a family figure present, it makes you feel like you aren't alone. And you receive your orders in this way as well. Thinking for yourself is not a thing that comes naturally. That's why probably 80% of the Vipers here are natural born, and a few like myself are clones. But we think for ourselves, we aren't a hive mind of any sort. Vipers always come here with their own prejudices against the other type of Viper. Clones see natural Vipers as 'not normal', and natural Vipers see us as puppets, or drones" Athissa admitted. I watched as Kassara diverted her gaze away from Athissa, unable to look her in the eye. I was right, she didn't like clones. Or at least had this prejudice towards them.

"Sorry...I..." Kassara began, struggling to find the words she wanted. "You changed my mind on it, pretty quickly"

Athissa simply gave her a sympathetic sort of smile in return. Her smile looked more jagged, rougher, it wasn't pulled off as well as Kassara could manage, and nowhere where near how well the Matriarch could, but I could tell nonetheless.

"Well, I'm glad of that, at the least. You two should stay in this tent for tonight, I will go and find another mattress and bring it over, and I will sleep elsewhere. We can work on introducing you both properly tomorrow, hopefully tempers will settle overnight" Athissa summarized, uncoiling and moving past the both of us, leaving into the night of the world. I could see Kassara still had a slightly giddy expression on her face, placing her plate beside her on the floor.

"It feels good to finally meet someone like me. Another Viper fighting Advent" She said dreamily, watching as I put my plate in a pile on hers. "I almost feel like I could belong here..."

A sense of worry settled itself into me, did she want to leave X-Com? Admittedly, it would probably be better for her to be around other Vipers, rather than a bunch of humans, but it made me feel kind of upset considering her leaving. She meant a lot to me, to Brick, to others on the Avenger. She had a home with us, not here.

* * *

 _AN: Meant to put this here earlier, but a mention that I have based the Liberated off of RealityMachina's mod on the steam workshop for X-Com 2._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 00:33 EST, 05/11/2035, Location: South Africa)

I could feel my body protest to move as I woke up, my eyes remaining firmly closed despite my pleas to open them. I unfurled on my mattress, stretching my body out from tip to tail, pressing against the tent at my tail, before I reluctantly opened my eyes. I felt like I hadn't quite had enough sleep, and wanted more, but I forced myself to get up from my mattress. A small ray of light peeked into the tent through a small crack in the entrance of the tent, it must have been what woke me up initially. I pushed myself up with my arms onto my tail, still feeling somewhat stiff despite my earlier stretching, and peeked my head outside. The fire we saw earlier was extinguished, but smoke was still visibly escaping from the ashes, so it must have burned on for some time after we fell asleep. The morning sun was starting to warm up the air outside, but it was still somewhat cool in the tent, so I retracted back inside, making sure the entrance was completely closed after me.

I think my movement, and the light I let in started to cause Zero to stir, he was curled up on his side, facing me, starting to curl up even tighter into his arms. His hair looked even more messy than normal, almost hanging over his eyes, instead of how he haphazardly kept it slightly swept over to his right. He looked so peaceful when he slept, if not a little cold due to a lack of a blanket to wear over him. It was significantly different compared to how worried he looked for the entirety of yesterday after he killed one of the Aliens here. I'm not sure how easy it will be for him here when we are forced to leave the confines of the tent and face the crowd of resistance fighters who wanted our heads on sticks. Athissa certainly had her work cut out for her if she was gonna keep them all in line. They were quite a large group of fighters, it wasn't like it was only a handful of them, it must have been around 40, or maybe even more, just from looking at the size of the camp. That said, I don't know how they managed to fly under radars so often, considering how many there were. Maybe South Africa wasn't the most well-populated place, and didn't have a lot of Advent crawling around it, maybe. I don't know, it's all speculation.

It felt oddly nice to be waking up away from the Avenger for once, it felt so much more natural, than waking up in the dark rooms with tiny windows, than a tent which practically let light in through the walls of the tent, bathing both of us in a light green light. I carefully picked up my armor from the floor between our mattresses, trying to make as little noise as possible so I didn't wake up Zero as I put it over my undershirt, slowly clasping it into place, attaching each extra part as necessary, the hood, the arm greaves, and the bottom section to complete the set. The armor felt stiffer than usual, though whether I could chalk that up to the uncomfortable sleep or the stress of the situation we were in, I wasn't able to tell. With one last glance over my shoulder to my sleeping companion, I grabbed my silver rifle from the floor, holding it by the barrel, just before it separated into its two prongs, and pushed my way through the entrance outside, making sure it closed properly behind me.

I hadn't paid much attention when I peeked outside earlier, but some of the aliens were already outside their tents, some packing them up already, though most didn't look particularly hard to put down. There was a larger white tent over more near the center of the compound, I couldn't see into it, but I could see a human and Sectoid leaving it, possibly the pair that I had seen yesterday. I made my way to the makeshift firepit they had made, coiling myself in front of one of the small logs that made the benches, the smoldering pile of burnt wood still providing a little bit of heat. I saw the girls eyes fall onto me, scanning over my armor, knowing even from how far away, that I was the X-Com Viper. It felt strange to be hated for who I was affiliated with, instead of who I was. It wasn't the fact I was an alien that she quickly turned away and rushed the Sectoid with her away from me. It was the sigil on my chest.

"Morning" The now familiar voice of Athissa said from behind me. I kept looking distractedly at the fleeting figures of the couple, not turning to face Athissa as I addressed her.

"Morning, Athissa. Thank you for letting us stay in your tent last night" I murmured back, deciding to turn to face her. She had her silvered armor on, as she came towards me, crossing past the bench and waiting beside me, standing straight, looking down at my coiled self.

"It's not an issue. Just thought I should come by and wake you both up, as we're going to be packing up everything after breakfast. I suppose Zero is still asleep in the tent?" She explained, coiling herself slightly further down so she could speak to me without looking down completely at me.

"Yeah, he is. I was wondering what was happening. I suppose you are all moving to a new area"

"Well, wake him up soon, we're probably leaving in about an hour. We're moving to a new base of operations, which should be fairly close to where you are both headed with your team. I can show you to them now, since you will be spending the next couple of days with them, it's only suitable, no?" She suggested. She seemed relatively relaxed and calm, pretty similar to how she was when we were eating with her last evening. "Come, they should be eating at the moment. Or, most of them anyway"

I began to uncoil so I could follow her as she leads the way to the cafeteria. It was fairly wierd to feel the heat on me whilst I was coiled, instead of feeling the heat on the one side of me, it just meant I could feel particular sections along my tail heat up, and it just felt weirder outstretched. I followed Athissa towards the white tent, more of a marquee to be more accurate. She went in through the entrance, only making a short glance back to make sure I was coming in with her. Inside were a few rows of boxes that must have formed makeshift tables for everyone, considering the groups of aliens that were using them that way. Athissa scanned across the groups of aliens in the tent, there must have been around 20 or so eating at the moment, I could see that most of them were Vipers, but there were a few Sectoid, Mutons, and even 2 humans sitting in one of the groups, which seemed to have a mix of all the aliens. But Athissa wasn't interested in these guys, and headed straight towards a group of four Vipers, 1 of them was a clone whilst the others all had their individual markings. She made a b-line to the group, moving past other aliens to the other side of the tent to get to them. One of them spotted us coming over, I could see the concern flash in her eyes, as she warned the rest of her group.

"Athissa. Why do you bring a member of the murderers to us?" The clone viper spoke. She sounded exactly like Athissa, how did they tell each other apart at all?

"Ava, cut it out" Athissa immediately put down. I'm glad she wasn't going to encourage this sort of talk, it kind of held her word true about stopping them attacking us for who we were, for what we did. "This is Kassara, the Viper from X-Com. She will be joining you alongside their Sniper in the mission we are sending you on in a couple of days time. I thought it would be best to introduce you all early." She explained to her, much to her apparent disapproval. Admittedly, this is one of the few times I could feel my nerves beginning to overcome me, I really wanted for them to like me, I wanted nothing more than to be able to just spend my time with other Vipers, with other aliens that also fought against the Elders.

"Why is she here? Are they trying to get rid of her?" Another asked, peering up to Athissa.

"I asked her here to help. To make up for what they did. They obliged wholeheartedly, there's no need to make things worse. I trust that you will look after them whilst they are here." She responded solidly, moving to the side more to show me to the group. They were all looking down at my armor, at my sigil. I don't think it mattered what Athissa said, they were judging me no matter what happened. One of the vipers, with a noticeable orange hue to her scales, with yellow patches down her body straightened up and faced towards us.

"Come on, you can get food with me" She offered, giving a small nod to Athissa. She gratefully returned the gesture, before addressing the group once more.

"I will leave her with you then, I need to help others pack up their stuff. We're leaving in around 2 hours if we're quick, hopefully put some more space between us and our hunter"

With a few nods back towards her, I watched as Athissa turned to leave the tent. It was only then that I realized that the etchings I saw on her armor that I had put down to being scratch marks from removing the paint were actually purposely put onto the armor. It definitely spelled 'Athissa' on the back of the armor, near the top. At least I knew this now, it would be easier to tell who was who, especially with the clones.

"Ah, I see you noticed the names" The new Viper commented, placing her hand lightly onto my shoulder, leading me away with her towards where the food was. "It was an idea from one of the humans here. They said it was like the jerseys they wore in sports. It seemed like a good idea, to say the least" She began, keeping us at a somewhat slow pace.

"Yeah. Thanks, by the way, for helping me" I quickly sputtered, before she could continue. She gave a short laugh to dismiss my sentiment, shaking her head.

"Don't worry about it, Kassara. You're one of us, and we should treat you as such. You wouldn't have called yourself 'free' if you didn't think you were" She hissed happily.

"What's your name?" I asked, as we arrived at where the food was served. It was similar to the Avenger, in that the food was simply laid out on trays, but they looked like they had been cooked differently, not in some sort of oven. Maybe on an open fire, would be more accurate, looking at the burn marks on the sausages.

"Right, sorry, forgot that part. Ethera, or Ethie for short." She quickly introduced herself. "I came here with the others I'm sat with. Ava talked us all into it. Kept hinting that she knew a way to stop the chip in her head. So we confronted her about it, and...well, it turns out she had found Athissa. We're her best squad of fighters, since we are all ex-guards"

"Oh right. I was a Peacekeeper too. X-Com captured me and held me captive for a short time, before I decided to switch sides" I marveled, again just glad that I was talking to another free Viper. After how long I thought I must have been the only one that knew what Advent did.

"They...forced you?" Ethera asked tentatively, uncertainty in her voice, as I started putting the sausages, bacon, and a few other cold meats that looked like large sausage slices onto my paper plate.

"No. I don't truly know what they were going to do with me. I was able to see what Advent actually did whilst there. I wanted to help them when their Sniper, Zero, the human here at the camp with me was captured by Advent...By our mother" I explained, knowing already the resulting silence that would follow. I could see her pursing her lips slightly, obviously hesitant on the subject of the Matriarch.

"I must commend your ability to stand up for what you knew to be right, despite what you were standing against then" She smiled back at me, one of the awkward Viper smiles. It didn't seem to be forced into an attempted facsimile of the human smile, like mine must look like. It was just normal and clearly genuine. We started to head back towards the others at the table, all not really talking, but just watching me and Ethera. "I can only guess they sort of treat you as an outsider at X-Com. I know the humans here end up being kind of isolated. That's why they leave, a lot of the time. There's only four at the camp now" She continued, breaking my attention from the rest of the Vipers.

"Well...yeah. They do. An alien, at an anti-alien organization. Think that's the best way to describe it. There's a few there that help, but I'd be lying if there weren't still people there that would prefer me dead" I sighed, admitting it to her. Though I could guess that she kind of knew the kind of situation I was in.

"Zero is one of them?" She inquired, as we arrived back at the boxes the others were using for a table. I watched as she coiled up down to the level the others were at, nodding her head towards the space next to her for me to follow suit. I couldn't help but watch the eyes of the other three judging me.

"Well, between him and one other, they have helped me call it home. I owe my life to him. Or at least used to, I'd like to think I've done a lot for him, so I don't owe him anymore" I responded, giving my attention back to Ethera, coiling down next to her.

"Are you talking about the Sniper with us?" Ava interrupted us, her fangs bared slightly as she spoke. "I don't understand why Athissa has let him get away with this, Raina deserves retribution," She said angrily.

"Knock it off, Ava" One of the other Vipers quickly shut her down, before I could argue back. I had to take a breath and take a step back for a second, mentally, I had immediately jumped to the role of defending Zero. I wasn't here to make enemies with the other Vipers. "They're here to make up for their actions" She finalized. I took my time to look at the markings on her body, black stripes seeming to fall down her sides, leading all the way up to her face, encroaching up towards her eyes, they almost looked like tear streams, it looked quite beautiful if I was being completely honest.

"Anyway, what exactly do you mean by 'owe him'? What did he do?" Ethera returned to the topic before Ava snapped back at the unnamed viper defying her. "Did he stop you from getting killed or something?" I could feel myself start to get flustered immediately, I would be lying if I didn't say that my more intimate moments with Zero didn't come to mind when she asked me about what I owed him.

"Well...I guess you could say that. But really he just looked after me a lot when I was in captivity. Which I didn't realize at the time, cause all we did really was fight a lot. But he tried his best to keep me entertained and help me where possible." I explained the best I could, reminiscing back to my days of being held captive in a dormitory room. It felt like it must have been months ago, though I know full well that it was still fairly recent.

"And that was enough to decide to change sides and break him out of a prison cell?" Ava continued her line of questioning, leaning towards me with interest. "And you say you owed him"

"I did." I reaffirmed. "Breaking him out of prison was the least I could do, and proved my loyalty to X-Com. Or at least, I thought it did, some still had issues about me."

"Well...Are you two an item then? Do you like him?" The fourth Viper quickly pressed, she seemed to be a lot more excitable than the other three, just off of first impressions. She looked eagerly on for an answer, the rest of the group holding a similar interest in my answer.

"What? No. Never" I quickly dismissed. "Not in that way. He's a great friend, but I'd never see him like that, or any human for that matter. Why do you ask?" I defended, trying to shift the focus away from me a little. I could feel my scales get hotter and I started to get more nervous. How did anything to do with interest in Zero come up so quickly, I had only just met these Vipers.

"Oh come on Kassara" Ava pressed, her face lit up in delight. "You're telling me you don't have feelings for someone you change sides to break out of prison for? None of us will blame you for it" She looked around to the other three, as if to confirm her final statement.

"No, I don't"

"Well, does he have feelings for you? I'm sure you're irresistible to him" The fourth Viper teased again. Even Ava seemed to have lightened up a little bit, possibly enjoying the interrogation.

"No, of course not" I immediately dismissed.

"Oh? Are you sure? Humans are fickle creatures Kassara, it doesn't take a lot to get interested in that sort of thing." The black-streaked Viper asked, much more calmly than the other two questioning me were going about it. I realized that this was similar to when Brick and Echo were teasing me, it wasn't serious, it was all a bit of teasing and fun. I took a breath, cooling myself down slightly. I just had to humor them. Or...maybe I had a better idea. Maybe I should indulge them a little, I had a perfect solution to an issue I had wanted to deal with for ages, I could actually finally get everything off of my chest to them. Well...maybe not everything. It would help Zero too, surely...

"Look...Can you guys promise not to tell anyone something?" I asked hesitantly, waiting for their reactions. I looked around as they all nodded, Ava included. I know it wasn't an exact silence, but it was unlikely they were going to mention it to Zero himself if I told them this. Which was the only part that mattered.

"Ok...When I was a captive, I was kept in a dorm room with 2 soldiers inside and 2 outside at all times. I made an escape attempt by trying to knock Zero out by binding him when he was on his own, as the other soldier had fallen asleep. I guess my plan was to shoot up the entire ship with the weapons I would have at my disposal, I didn't really think it through"

"Ah, so this is a long time ago then" Ava added, to which I immediately shook my head.

"It must have been a month back. A bit over, maybe." I responded, I think to the surprise of every Viper at the table.

"Wait, so you're a new addition to X-Com?"

"Ava, she's telling us something" Ethera interrupted, turning back to me. "You were saying?"

"Right, where was I...I tried to bind Zero, but he escaped my grasp by cutting me with a small knife he carries around in his pocket. He got to his gun before I could stop him, and I found myself at the end of his barrel, I couldn't do anything."

"I'm surprised he didn't shoot you straight away." The black-streaked Viper commented, her elbows over the box we used as a table, propping up her head as she listened.

"I don't know why he didn't, to be honest with you. At that point I was getting along with him somewhat I think. I don't know how much that accounted for his actions. But he waited, and asked me why he shouldn't shoot me. I didn't know what to say, I tried, but he wouldn't listen to any of my excuses." I continued, I could see them waiting on my next words, all eager to hear the rest of my little story. It felt so relieving to finally be able to talk about this, there wasn't any going back now. I looked around before I quietened my voice slightly more, to make sure it was only the four Vipers that could hear me.

"I...offered myself to him. I didn't know any other options." I released, watching the faces in front of me all react in what I could probably call shock.

"No way" The fourth Viper exclaimed, quickly being shushed by Ethera, waiting for me to continue.

"I don't think he expected me to do it, to try it at all. But he outright refused, and told me to wait while he got a medikit for my wound. I think to hide it from the other soldiers, so no one would ask about it" I sighed, remembering myself to that moment, where I was lost in confusion at what was happening. "So yes, I'm fairly sure that he's not interested"

"Well...I can't argue with that" Ethera remarked. "I'm still surprised, the humans I have seen would want to take advantage of something if put in that situation"

"Yes, do you remember that one man who used to constantly bother us on our patrols to hit on Hettie?" Ava recalled to the rest of the group, pointing towards the Viper with the black markings. "It was funny the first few times, at least"

"Wait, are human and alien relationships even allowed in Advent? Do they even happen?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. There was always something strange about thinking about me and Zero together, it felt taboo at least. And at Advent I had never seen a human and an alien as a couple.

"It's actively discouraged under Advent, if I remember correctly. But not illegal, as far as I know. Why would a Viper want a human anyway?" Ava responded with a slight sniff, upturning her snout at us.

"Well, it's been done. I mean, I haven't seen any in the towns we were in, but I'm fairly sure that Vessa had a thing going on with the one human here, before they left. She was a bit heartbroken after that. But you know the human girl here? I'm fairly sure she's in some sort of relationship with the Sectoid." The fourth Viper chimed in. "It's just weird, I guess, the idea of a human and an alien. They are different species, it's not exactly natural" She shrugged.

It certainly gave me more material to think about, to imagine what could have possibly happened between me and Zero. It matched my feelings on the matter, the entire concept seemed odd and unnatural, but it could obviously be done. I knew the girl they were talking about, the one I saw crying yesterday. She was proof that humans were able to have relationships with aliens.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 00:56 EST, 05/11/2035, Location: South Africa)

I woke up to the sound of voices outside my tent, gruffer than those onboard the Avenger. It took me a moment to realize that I was actually at the resistance camp, rather than where I was used to, as I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The mattress next to me was empty, Kassara must have already left to eat her breakfast. The voices of what I presumed were Mutons continued, talking in another language with each other, I certainly couldn't understand it.

The night had been fairly warm, and judging by how hot I felt now I was awake, a change of clothes would have been much appreciated. Maybe I could ask Athissa if they had anything like a shower here, though I doubted it. I slipped my shoes back on, grabbing my weapons, before leaving the tent. The camp seemed a little busy, several aliens were standing around, moving equipment across the camp. We must be moving soon, I was guessing.

"Zero, you're up" Athissa's voice called out to me. I briefly looked around for a Viper, seeing her with her hand raised to get my attention, as she approached me. "Kassara is in the food tent, over there" She pointed out the white tent to me, before continuing. "We're moving soon, I'll get the tent all packed up, don't worry about it. She should be with a group of Vipers, they are your squadmates for your mission. If there's anything you need, just come and get me"

"Do you have anything I can use as a shower at all?" I asked before she could turn away to divert her attention back to the others. She paused for a second, obviously trying to think of a solution.

"Well, we don't have a shower, but we have an abundance of water. I'm sure you can take one of the jugs we have and use that, if this is ok? That's what some of the other humans do, anyway." She offered. "I'll get you something, you go and have breakfast, we need to pack that tent up soon."

I thanked her quickly, before heading towards the white tent she had directed me towards. I entered into the tent, which was surprisingly cool, I would have imagined it would be like an oven. I scanned over the few aliens sat down, and I think I spotted Kassara's group over on the far side of the tent. Her back was turned to me, but I could identify her from her black chevron, hidden partially behind her hood armor. She looked like she was enjoying her conversation with the Vipers, all huddled together and talking with each other, largely paying attention to Kassara. I'm glad she was hitting it off well with them, it was probably best for me to leave her to it. She didn't need me to come over and ruin it for her, the Vipers would surely hate me for what I've done.

I looked around the tent once more for somewhere better to sit. I was going to choose to sit alone, but I saw a pair of other humans in the corner of the tent, a guy and a girl. I could feel a hope build up inside me, because I actually found humans here, in the heart of a group of aliens who probably wanted me dead. I quickly went to get my food, picking from the meats presented, and taking a few other things, bread, eggs and beans all available. It was almost a full English breakfast. I headed over to where they were sat, drawing their attention as I approached.

"Hey, could I sit with you guys?" I asked to them. The guy looked older, grey hair making up the rough beard on his face with sunken, heavy-set eyes. The woman looked slightly younger, with long blonde hair and blue eyes, I would guess in her early 20s. The man looked me up and down, glancing towards the woman, before nodding, pulling a smaller box from beside him for me to sit on.

"You're the Sniper from X-Com, right?" He asked in his deep voice, not waiting for my response. "The aliens here will never forget that you're a murderer. They haven't let me forget it"

"I'm not a murderer" I contested immediately, watching him turn towards me. I could see from the eyes of the woman that she was trying to plead with him not to start on this, but he wasn't looking at her.

"You killed the alien, you're a murderer. You kill aliens for a living, how can you say you're not a murderer?" He muttered back. It wasn't in a threatening way, it was more like he was stating facts.

"It's war. Are all soldiers murderers?" I asked back, finishing my mouthful first.

"You're terrorists, don't pretty yourself up. We all are"

"Stop it, dad" The woman spoke up, interrupting him. He glanced over towards her again, giving her a shake of his head, before turning back to me.

"Just letting you know what you're up against. At least there's another human here for a bit, regardless." He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sorry, please ignore him," The girl said, turning away from her father to face me. "I'm Olivia, and this is my dad, Jason. We're quite new here...I don't think we'll stay around for long though. Just long enough so we can get on our feet"

"You've only recently joined? You used to live in one of the Advent cities?" I asked, trying to start conversation as I continued picking at my breakfast.

"Yeah, we were more north, on one of the border towns. Not fully under Advent control, but still bound by their administration" Olivia responded to me, as the guy went back to brooding by himself.

"A D-City? I thought they got rid of most of those already, that the only border towns were resistance controlled, not Advent controlled. At least, in America that was the case."

"There's not a very large resistance presence in Africa, I don't think. The Liberated are hard to come by, they make passes by these sort of border towns and try and get people to join. You never know when an Advent guard comes up to you whether they are telling you to leave and join them, or if they are there to interrogate you about the Liberated passing through."

"Well, why did you leave the town?" I asked, pausing from my food to listen. Olivia looked towards her father, who I was fairly sure was paying attention, but he purposely looked away from us, leaving her to explain it to me. She looked back towards me hesitantly, looking for where to start.

"A Viper in our town managed to find something to intoxicate herself...I don't know how. She tried to attack us after Jason tried to restrain her to turn in. She went straight for me with her fangs, and he grabbed her gun and killed her. We ran straight after that, the Liberated had come through our town a day back, so we searched for them, and luckily found them. Athissa was kind enough to take us in, but when we told someone what happened, everybody kind of avoids us ever since. That, and a few flung names of 'murderers'" She explained, avoiding my gaze afterward. It looked like she was concerned I would leave them, and just do the same thing.

"I'm sorry to hear that happened to you," I responded, grimacing at her story. It just sounded like a series of unfortunate events. "So, you guys aren't actually against Advent, are you?"

"Well, what can we do, go back? We'll be arrested" Jason blurted out from beside me, though not out of anger. "We just want to go back home and live our lives how we were, but we can't. And that means supporting those who wish for their downfall"

I sort of understood where he was coming from. I couldn't help but recall to the Matriarch's words, that Advent and humanity are able to make huge progress together. For a lot of people, the life they lead within Advent feels some comfortable, they can see the advances in society around them, that they just don't understand that our race is being manipulated, controlled, and killed at the whim of another race. They know nothing other than the life they've lead, and they see no reason for a change. These two people were just living their life, they were forced into this situation, and they just wanted something normal.

"Come on, Dad, we need to pack our stuff up. It's been nice meeting you...uh..."

"Zero"

"Zero. I hope to see you later, before you head off, at least" She smiled, as Jason stood up from his box, leading the way out of the tent, leaving me to myself. Now was as good a time as any to go find Athissa and get washed a little. Athissa looked like she was still enjoying her time with the new Vipers. I was going to feel so left out in the next few days.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 05:12 EST, 05/11/2035, Location: South Africa)

We've been traveling across the plains for a few hours now, the entire camp just up and moved as soon as the big breakfast tent was taken down. I felt very overheated, no thanks to the hot sun beating down upon us at every second, but Zero looked worse for wear. I had stayed near the back of the group with him, and he had just been sweating the entire way, which he told me was how they kept cool. Though he kept wiping the sweat away from his face with his sleeve, it didn't look comfortable.

A lot of the equipment was being hauled by the Mutons present at the camp, sometimes on small trolleys, or carts, allowing them to carry more, but it looked like enough of an effort. The four Vipers that I was talking with earlier had been sent by Athissa to meet with us further up the line when we left to start the walk, so they could cut through a border town to try and recruit aliens and humans. It's a shame Zero didn't get to meet them this morning and instead decided to sit with two other humans. Despite the fact that I had told them about our secret, I think it helped in their opinion of him. And I can't begin to describe how much better I feel now I have been able to talk about it with someone else. And with another Viper, not a human. But, I also felt guilty that I gave away the secret Zero kept so close to his chest for my sake. Not made any better by the fact this wasn't the first time I had given up something between us. Ugh, I felt so disgusting.

We had been walking in silence for a while, I think Zero was slowing down slightly, as some of the aliens in the small pilgrimage were starting to overtake us as we were too slow. Without any warning, I saw one of the Mutons walk a little close to Zero as he passed, I didn't react in time to the threat, but the Muton cocked back his shoulder, pushing it forward into the back of the unaware Zero, causing him to fall into the dusty floor underneath him, with a brief grunt escaping from the human as he hit the floor.

"Hey!" I called after the Muton. "You want-"

"Kassara, it's fine, leave it" He interrupted me as I called after the Muton for a challenge, dusting himself off as he got up from the floor. I watched as the Muton walked away from us, glancing back towards me, his mask preventing me from noticing what kind of expression he wore. After Zero got up, he quickly checked his arm, looking at his elbow. I could see that it was cut from where he had landed, or rather that the skin had been scraped off by the landing, resulting in bleeding from the wound. He rubbed over it with his arm gingerly, wiping some of the blood of onto his hand which he proceeded to rub into his trousers, then licking his other finger to remove the rest of the blood from his hand.

"Are you alright?" I asked, concerned for him. I know that if I was ever bleeding, it meant my scales had been penetrated by something, which was usually a relatively big injury, but humans weren't that fragile, were they? He had only fallen over, and it caused a noticeable injury. Though, I suppose they didn't have something over their skin to protect it.

"Yeah...I'm fine, just stings a little" He gave a weary smile back to me. I can't believe how unfazed by the attack he was. I couldn't constantly protect him from things like this, I had no way of knowing that the Muton was going to do that. What if it just escalates more from here?

"Kassara!" A voice called out from in front of me, I looked up to see Ethera waving her hand in my direction, as if beckoning me to follow her. They must have already arrived back from what they were doing. "Come on!". I looked back towards Zero, trying to decide whether I should stay with him or go with Ethera. I really wanted to go and talk with the Vipers again, but I should stay with Zero here, really. It's not like he was readily accepted by anyone else here, I didn't want to leave him on his own. I had seen the looks other Mutons, Sectoids and Vipers have been giving him, I was concerned that if I left he wouldn't have the barrier that there was an alien protecting him.

"Hey, it's fine, I'll catch up with you later" He answered my silent question, with a weary smile on his face. He looked so tired from the walking.

"Are you sure? I can get you to come with me" I tried to compromise, not wanting to leave him on his own to be subject to another attack from the aliens here, but he shook his head pretty quickly, he wasn't going to have any of it.

"I think I'll pass, you go hang out with your viper friends. I'll go find Olivia, and get some water" He mentioned offhandedly. I started to move away from him to catch up with Ethera, but did a double take before going to talk to him again. Who was Olivia, does he already have friends here as well? I mean, it's great if he does, it means I don't have to worry so much, right?

"Who's Olivia?"

"Oh, she's the girl I was sat with this morning. It'd be good to get to know her a little better, we didn't get to talk that long at breakfast." He explained casually, shrugging at me slightly. I didn't realize he had got on well with them this morning. But it's good he's got somebody to talk to without me, at least. I suppose he would prefer humans to vipers anyway, it made sense.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it" I flashed a smile back at him, turning to head off with Ethera, who was thankfully still patiently waiting for me. "I'll find you later"

"Ciao"

"What?" I asked, confused by what he said. I thought I had heard him wrong for a second, but I swear he said 'Chow', which was slang for eating, or food, if I remembered correctly.

"It means goodbye" He laughed. "I'll see you later" He finalized, turning the other way from where I was headed, obviously on the search for his human friend. I caught up to Ethera quickly, as we started to head towards the front of the line that made up our pilgrimage. It was good of Ethera to come and find me, at least.

"Hello my free little snake, I hope the travel hasn't been too hard on you" She greeted chirpily, as we began to make our way forwards. "It won't be long until we're done at least". Well, there was a completely new way to be greeted, I hadn't heard that one before.

"It's been fine, Ethera. Good to be traveling outside again, to be honest. Haven't fancied being cooped up in the ship the entire time" I returned. "How did your mission go, by the way? Did anything happen"

"Ah, nothing special. Nobody joined when we asked a few of them, but we've got the words around, regardless. Mostly humans in that one anyway, they tend to be a little scared of a group of vipers passing through." She sighed, deflating slightly from how bubbly she had been a second ago, before she recomposed herself. "But it doesn't matter, these things happen a lot. Is Zero ok on his own? He can come join us if he wants...though I'm not sure if the others will like that" She offered hesitantly.

"He's okay, but thanks for the offer anyway. I can understand why they won't like him. As long as there's no issue between them for the mission we're doing with you" I said in reply. We were catching up to a group of Vipers now, I could make out the three Vipers I knew ahead of me, the diamond pattern, the black streaks, and the yellow zigzag pattern all visible on their backs, though I was too far away to read their individual names etched onto their armor. I recalled back to how angry Athissa was at Zero after he shot Raina. I just had to remember that this is how they all probably felt. It was hard to remember that this whole mission wasn't us voluntarily helping the Liberated, but rather our debt to them. "Anyway, he's got Olivia to hang out with, or someone". As soon as I mentioned her name, I saw Ethera's face scrunch up in disgust slightly, and she gave a sideways glance to me.

"Well, I suppose he's hanging out with his own kind" she said through her fangs, as we passed by a couple of Mutons carrying several tents each, all folded down for easy transport. We were just behind the others now. Her response was a little more angered than I had imagined, I suppose I was sort of expecting it, but I was still surprised. I mean, she seemed kind of open to Zero, she offered for him to join them. Maybe it was the mention of Olivia that changed her mood so suddenly? We had caught up to the other vipers, who greeted me as we arrived, leaving the previous conversation where it was. Probably for the best.

We spent the next couple of hours chatting between us about nothing in particular, as we made our way to the next camping spot Athissa had chosen. They teased each other a bit about this and that, they largely seemed to be jokes known to them, but not really to me, but they didn't leave me out of the equation at all, teasing about how I had bought my way into X-Com with my looks and sexual appeal. It made it easier to laugh at, I knew that Zero didn't find me attractive in that way; I was an alien, he said it himself. But the line we had been following eventually came to a halt, the Mutons who had been carrying equipment laid it all out on the ground as they arrived. We seemed to be approaching some old abandoned park of some sort, twisted metal structures were dotted everywhere in front of us past the main entrance, some taller than others. The whole place looked like it was completely rusted and derelict.

"What is this place?" I asked out of curiosity, gazing at all the broken machinery, as the four of us began to walk around the grounds, past a few of the wrecks, weapons in our hands, but not really at the ready. The grounds in between the rides were littered with tables and chairs, some broken, or some small sort of houses, like stalls almost.

"Abandoned theme park. Shame the rides don't work" Hettie annotated, not bothering to look around like the rest of us. She didn't seem particularly interested in it, anyway.

"Do they have these in Advent? I've never seen one when we were patrolling" Ava asked, turning towards me as the source of information. I gave her a simple shrug back, certainly not in any of the towns I had patrolled had I seen anything similar to this, not on the same scale anyway. They looked like the tiny kids' playgrounds, but about 100 times the size.

"Well, there won't be much time to rest, Athissa will probably send us out after they get most of everything set up. We should probably start helping to set up the food tent." Ethera interrupted us, pointing her thumb over in the direction that all of the equipment was being laid out. It was not hard to see the largest tent sprawled on the floor. I could imagine it would, unfortunately, take some effort to put up, but I guess I owed that. Oh, maybe I should get Zero to help, I'm sure that would score him some points with the other Vipers.

"I'm just going to go get Zero, I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping us" I called out to the others, as I started to head in the other direction to them. Ethera gave me a quick wave goodbye, letting me head off on my way. I headed back towards the main entrance of the theme park, where everybody was mostly congregating. I could see the three humans still milling around the entrance of the park. I could make out Zero out of the three, talking to a woman, who must have been Olivia. Her hand was resting on his arm, from what I could see, for a short while, before she retracted it again, as I approached. I could feel my stomach tense up in a knot as I watched them, what was this feeling? I had no way of explaining what I felt, I had never had anything like it.

"Hey, Zero" I interrupted their conversation, waving my hand at them as I came closer. Zero reciprocated with a short wave and smile back, the other two humans looking on at me disinterestedly, replacing the smiles I had just seen upon their faces mere moments ago. "Could you come and help us put up some of the tents before we head off? The other Vipers would like to meet you, at any rate" I asked. He glanced back at Olivia for a second, before shrugging back at me.

"Sure, I'll come." He nodded towards me, turning back to Olivia. "I suppose this'll be it for now. It's been nice getting to know you"

The woman glanced towards me, her expression softening slightly as she spoke back to Zero. "Oh, will we not see you again? I suppose this is goodbyes then." She opened her arms and moved towards him slightly, as he accepted her invitation to a hug, as she embraced him, pulling him in close to her. I could feel my fangs biting into my lip, to the point where it almost hurt as I watched them. "Best of luck on the mission, hopefully we can see each other before you leave back to X-Com"

"Alright, fun's over" I joked to them, trying to get them out of a hug I thought had gone on too long. "Let's go Zero"

"Sure" He smiled back at me, waving goodbye at the woman as we left. I glanced back over my shoulder at her, the rotten taste in my mouth only growing as I looked at her. What was wrong with me? I had only just met her, but I already thoroughly disliked her, I didn't want her near Zero. The other Vipers were right, she does have a certain vibe about her. No wonder Ethera reacted in disgust when I mentioned her earlier.

"I see your getting nice and friendly with the new humans you met" I observed, as we began to make our way back towards the four Vipers.

"What, Olivia? Yeah, she's a nice person. It's a shame I won't really be seeing much of her from now on, I kind of feel sorry for her, she's not in the best of situations here" He replied with a slight sigh, glancing back over his shoulder towards where we had come from.

"I'm sure she's fine, Zero, they're in a good place here. Anyway, you have too much on your plate to worry about others" I gave a small laugh back, placing my hand on his shoulder in comfort to him. I saw him glance momentarily to my claws on his shoulder, before giving me a small grin back.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm too busy having to look after you on the Avenger. And soon to be babysitting the other resistance members as well, I'm sure Brick's having fun with them now" He said, laughing to himself slightly at the end. "How have you been with the Vipers, anyway? You looked like you were getting along well with them"

"Yeah, it's been great! I've put in a good word on you though, don't worry, so I think they kind of like you" I quickly answered, after removing my hand from him again. He paused for a second, hesitating at my sentence. I suppose he didn't believe me, but the only thing he could do was see for himself.

As we approached where I had just left the other four Vipers, I could see they had stretched out the tent cover on the floor, leaving all the poles and frame to the side.

"Kassara, you're back. So this must be Zero, I thought I saw a new human earlier in the food tent" Hettie greeted us, drawing the attention of the other three Vipers to us as we approached.

"Now we finally get to see the face behind Raina's death" Ava murmured venomously at him. I watched Ethera immediately turn on her, giving her a look that nobody needed translation for. I saw Zero grimace slightly, before starting to turn away.

"I knew this was a bad idea. I'll just go somewhere else, sorry Kass" He sighed. Astrith, the Viper with zigzags, jumped up from where she was, beating me to dissuading Zero from leaving, immediately wrapping her arm around the back of his shoulder, turning him back towards the group, with a genuine Viper smile on her face.

"Hey, ignore Ava, we'd love your company here. We can use the help, and we need to get introductions out of the way anyway, right?" She chirped. I was a little aware of how she was pulling him into her slightly, and he didn't seem to be resisting either way.

"Anyway, you've already met Ava, but I'm Astrith, and that's Ethie and Hettie" She quickly introduced, pointing at the individual Vipers, Ethera gracing the mention of her name with a small wave towards Zero, Hettie all but refusing to acknowledge Zero properly. I looked over to Ava, she was pretty much sulking where she was currently coiled up. I suppose she was still holding onto her feelings about Raina, which I could understand.

"It would have been nicer to meet on better terms, Zero" Ethera added. "Whatever has happened, we're glad you're doing what you can now" She reassured, heading over to the frame of the tent. "Anyway, shall we start setting up?"

I was thankful between Ethera and Astrith that they were able to quickly defuse the situation that could have arisen. I could tell just by looking at Zero that just by being in the presence of the other Vipers made him more conscious of what he had done, and I knew it was eating at him. Ava's added input, of course, didn't help the case at all. He stayed mostly silent as we continued to put up the tent, setting up the frame, and putting the cover on top, before slowly unfolding the frame so it was stretched. The four Vipers chatted amongst themselves, mostly just ignoring Zero's presence, other than asking him to do something particular whilst we set up. It took a short while, but the tent was finally up, taking up what used to be a large empty space between two of the larger rides I had seen here. With it all set up, the rest of the Vipers all congregated again into a group, starting to talk amongst themselves, leaving Zero again out of the group. I think Ethera noticed this also, and helped break his silence after we had finished setting up the tent.

"So, Zero, have you spoken to any of the humans at the camp? I know there's a few here, I kind of assumed you found some of them" She asked, leaving the others to talk amongst themselves. I too moved over towards Zero, joining their conversation.

"I've only spoken to Olivia and Jason, but I saw one of the girls at the camp, the one that hangs out with the Sectoid" He responded. I saw Ethera sport a look of disdain for a millisecond upon the mention of Olivia and Jason. She really didn't like them that much, huh. Surely she knew that's how he was going to respond, she was speaking to me about them earlier. She quickly regained her composure, though I'm sure Zero noticed, it was hard not to.

"I'm glad you've found somebody in the camp to hang around with, regardless. And uh, sorry for Ava's reaction earlier. Please understand that a lot of aliens here will resent you for what happened." She continued, trying to apologize for Ava's earlier reaction to seeing Zero.

"And what about you?" He asked, looking up at the Viper he was talking to. Ethera glanced towards me momentarily, almost as if a plea for my help, but otherwise started to avoid his gaze as she answered the question.

"Look...I'm going to be honest, yes, I do resent you for the fact that you took Raina away from us." She began, her hands beginning to fidget, and her tail winding in on itself slightly more, only showing her nervousness to both me and Zero. "But I've seen what you are like, and Kassara's told me a lot about you, I know you are a good person. It's just difficult to forget what happened. We were quite close, you took someone I cared about from me. From all of us. And I don't think it's possible to always change how others feel on the matter, but please know because of you and Kassara, I've changed my mind about you." She explained. I could see Zero was slightly hurt by her honesty, I don't think it was the answer he was looking for from her, but I think he could understand at the same time.

"We should probably go find Athissa so we can start the mission, at least now the tent is up" I interrupted the ensuing silence that I could see start to form to try and break the tension between the two of them.

"Oh, no, that's fine, Athissa will come and get us when she needs us, don't worry about it" She gave a weak smile in return. "You are both providing Sniper support for us, right?"

"Yes, Athissa mentioned something about there being a good vantage position for where the ambush is supposed to be set up?" I replied in an uncertain fashion.

"If that's what she said, that's what she said" She gave a short laugh in return. "I don't really know the exact mission details. I suppose I'll see you guys later in that case, I'm gonna go find some people and catch up before we head off. Toodles" She said, turning around to leave. I looked back towards Zero, the glum look I had seen on his face hadn't left. I could kind of understand how he felt, the hopelessness of knowing everybody around you hated you for what you were, and what you had done. Though I feel that more of their dislike of him was because he had killed someone, and more of the dislike for me was because I was an alien. Certainly, that was the case for Elena, she had it out for me completely. I don't even know what I could say to help Zero here, there's not much you can do about it.

And I think that Ethera's helped solidify why I couldn't stay here, even if I was able to. The whole place, despite sporting so many different species, did not show that aliens and humans could get on together. Most of the groups stayed within their own race, and barely any of them seemed to talk, or even like the humans. The only real appeal was being able to talk to other Vipers. And they were great to know, and it felt amazing to be able to talk with my own kind. But even the more tolerant ones were so bogged down with judging others for who they were, it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted people like Zero, and Brick, people who don't take your species or race into account.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked quietly to Zero, lowering my head down to his eye level to speak with him.

"Yeah..." He muttered under his breath, turning away from my eyes, crossing his arms across his body. I know I wasn't great at reading expressions all the time, but I don't think anybody would not be able to realize that it bothered him. Before I could try to comfort him, I saw Athissa approaching us, so I stood back up straight, ready to address her.

"Alright, I'm glad you're all here...Oh wait, there's no Ethera. Well, everyone can get ready and meet me by the entrance to our new camp. I'll go and find Ethie, and I can give you a quick mission briefing when we're all together, I'm not going to bother explaining it twice." She addressed happily, she seemed to be in quite a good mood at the moment. "Kassara, are the communication devices you and Zero have tunable to specific frequencies?"

"I wouldn't know, mine's not manual, anyway"

"Alright, I'll have to see if we can find which frequency they operate on. We'll need full communication to get this to work, I think. either way, I'll see you in a couple of minutes. I'm glad you're all acquainted with each other at least" She nodded, before heading back off. She may have been in a little bit of a rush, maybe our time frame was shorter than we thought.

"You got your weapons?" I asked Zero, watching him wave his hands over his hip, checking for his pistol, knowing already that he had his Sniper rifle on his back.

"Yeah. Let's go" He gave a small smile back at me, leading the way back towards the entrance to the theme park, back past the rides, past the stalls, where most of the tents had already been set up. You have to give them credit, but they manage to move a whole camp rather efficiently. If they moved every few days, it would certainly be hard to keep track of them.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

(Corporal 'Zero', 14:39 EST, 05/11/2035, Location: South Africa)

Athissa had waited for us all to meet her at the front of the camp this morning, before sending us on our way. We had a little trek set out for us, which would have taken us a couple of hours, though we also had food rations, so we stopped for a short while to have the pre-cooked food as a sort of lunch/dinner combination. Ethera had taken it upon herself to carry the basket we had used to pack all the food in, and I offered to carry the water in a backpack Athissa put it in, and she gave two backpacks to Hettie and Astrith as well. We had plenty of each either way, but it didn't make the journey much easier. I noticed both Hettie and Astrith both were wearing their old Advent armors, well, it was probably not theirs, but they were wearing the regular armor anyway. The area was like a barren wasteland, it was mostly just dusty and sandy everywhere, with few places of vegetation. I'm not surprised that there aren't more cities, this place isn't anywhere near as hospitable as in other cities. Though I suppose it would make a better climate for Vipers to live in, rather than humans or the other Alien species.

Athissa had also given us all devices she said were small handheld radios, which I promptly told her the name I knew them more by; walkie-talkies. The other Vipers seemed to find this mildly interesting and proceeded to call them walkie-talkies from that point forward, though I wasn't exactly sure whether it was a genuine interest or just a really poor attempt to mock me. Though I doubt the latter. She said that it got around the issue of not knowing which frequency to transmit on, and allowed us all to talk to each other as we did the mission. I was kind of trusting that the map she gave to Ethera was one Ethera knew how to use, cause we were all following her here. I would have offered to help, but I didn't really know my way around maps to be perfectly honest.

But after our hours of walking, we finally arrived at the first of the two locations marked out on the map we had been given, the site of our ambush, so we could case the site and know what we were doing. The place marked on the map was the main road, which had a singular curve in it to change direction to avoid having to pave it up raised ground. That must be the vantage point she was on about. It was still a fair way from the actual road, maybe a bit further than 100 meters away, it was certainly a good spot to ambush a truck moving along the road. It would almost be driving straight at us if we found the right spot, allowing for an easy shot. But that wouldn't stop it moving, they would either drive off, or the truck would continue rolling along without a driver, which could cause harm to the Viper we were supposed to be rescuing.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked as we all paused before the road, watching it stretch into the distance on one side, and curve around the small hill on the other. I suppose we really shouldn't be here in case an Advent vehicle came along and saw us, but I suppose we would probably see it long before it saw us, assuming it came from the long stretch anyway.

"What now? Probably see how good the vantage point is from up on the hill, we need to know where we stop the truck for you guys to get the best shots. Ideally, it should be just before the curve, as they are forced to slow down anyway, and it should allow us to easily set up a crossfire for the Troopers." Hettie answered stiffly.

"I meant what are you guys going to do to stop the truck" I clarified, watching her quickly sniff through her nose at having to explain something a second time in a row.

"Astrith and I are going to be moving alongside the road when the truck is due to pass through here. We will hail it down, by stepping slightly into the road with our hands in the human 'stop' gesture. If they slow down to a stop, which is ideal, wait for us to move around to the back of the truck, and you can take out the driver and passenger in the front. If they go around us, wait for them to straighten up just before the bend and take the shot on the driver. There's not much room for error here." She explained thoroughly, to the nods of the other Vipers.

"This shouldn't take us too long then" Kassara chirped, already moving across the road, leading the way towards the hill. "What time is the transport due to arrive here, roughly?"

"Tomorrow" Astrith replied bluntly. Kassara stopped where she was on the road, turning around to face the group of Vipers.

"Wait, what? Are we staying somewhere then? Do we have any bedding?" She quickly rifled off her questions. Athissa hadn't really briefed us on much else but the mission itself, I guess she must have forgotten to mention our arrangements in her effort to organize the camp at the same time. She hadn't mentioned to us before that we would be staying the night. I suppose that's what the second location was for, it made more sense now at least. I watched as Astrith took the backpack off her back, unzipping it to show her the tightly stuffed inflatable mats that had been shoved in.

"Come on, let's get up the hill, the sooner we sort this out, the sooner we can get to the place we're staying, the better." Ava insisted, overtaking Kassara on the path to the hill. It was not quite a cliff, but the side of the hill facing us was steep enough that we would have to all walk around to get up. Of course, Kassara didn't have to, she could simply rappel up to the top using her armor, but she decided to walk with us on the way up. She chatted with the other Vipers on the way up, talking about how Shen had also made her armor, and what it could do. She seemed to get on with them quite well from what I had seen, I had to feel bad for the fact that she hadn't had much contact with her own species since being on the Avenger. She seemed much more at home talking to the Vipers here than she did speaking with the soldiers at X-Com. Though, she definitely fared better at talking to a few at the party, when she was inebriated enough not to overly worry about it, I guess.

And being here helped me truly understand what it must be like for her aboard the Avenger. You have nothing outrightly in common with those around you, what do you even have to talk about? They aren't interested in making the effort really, they would much rather settle and hang out with those of their own race. I have some respite in that I was able to do so myself, but I wanted to be around Kassara more than I did the other humans at the camp. She's the one I know the most, the one I know the best. I really care for her as a person, so I guess it's just upsetting that I'm not really able to spend as much time with her as just us two as I would like. But who would I be to try and get her to stop talking to her own kind? That would be insanely childish.

As for the Vipers, I could tell most of them didn't really like me. Sure, Ava made it very obvious right from the start that she didn't like me, but apart from that, I'm fairly convinced they all felt the same way. That I was fully responsible for the loss of their friend. I was nothing more than a murderer to them. Maybe Astrith looked at me in a slightly brighter light than the others, but she mostly kept to the group, apart from when she stopped me from leaving them to set up the tent at the camp earlier, though I had seen her glancing back towards me on multiple occasions, I couldn't even tell what she was thinking whenever she did. Even now I was just replaying the shot I took in my head. She was innocent. I fucked up big time, and even if they say on the outside that this will be a way of making up for my actions, they will still hate me for what I did, they would still consider me a murderer. And they were right. Jason hit the nail on the head I think, once you've made that one mistake, I feel like there's nothing you can do to change their minds.

"It seems they look after you quite well at X-Com then, Kassara, if they are giving you new equipment and weapons as soon as you join up with them." Ethera commented as we approached the peak of the hill from the side path we took up. "I mean, I get that you saved one of their own, but you were still a prisoner until that point, right?"

"I don't know. I think their Commander decided to take a liking to me? The Central Officer I had mostly spoken to didn't seem very fond of me, even after I rescued Zero" Kassara shrugged her response. We were arriving at the slightly flat area of the peak of the hill, now looking over the road, stretching in from the distant orange sunset now illuminating the barren land, curving below us to go around the hill we now stood on. I had to shield my eyes from the sun in front of us, though none of the Vipers seemed to have this problem.

"Well, these are perfect sightlines for the road" Astrith commented, as we all gathered near the top to look at the view. Ava moved forward slightly, explaining to us what the plan was.

"Ok, Kassara and Zero will stay up here and will be the ones to take the first shots. Ethera and myself will take cover at the small rocky formations to the right of the road. It's the only cover I can see in the nearby vicinity, so we will want to make sure they can't get to it easily. Hettie and Astrith will try and stop the convoy about 50 yards from the bend, and you can take the shot on the driver as soon as we identify which truck is the one holding Ash" She explained carefully, not once looking back to see if we were all on the same page.

"We've got one shot at this, and we can't afford to miss the opening shots. Can I rely on you two to take out that driver?" She asked, turning around to face me and Kassara, her eyes settling on me more than my partner. It felt more like an accusation of my incompetence, by the way she asked it.

"I can guarantee that we'll hit the guy once you mark him, Ava. We won't miss" Kassara reassured happily, though it seemed to do little to help Ava's disposition.

"Alright, could we just check the walkie-talkies are all working and tuned? We'll check them again tomorrow, but might as well sort it out now as well." Ethera interrupted, drawing Ava's attention away from us. She unclipped the walkie-talkie from the top of her armor, where they had all attached them so it lay against the top of their chest plate, as they didn't have another way to carry them. I took mine from my utility belt, watching as everyone tested that theirs was able to send and receive from the same frequency, with no issues to be seen. With no other business here, I assume we would now go off to find the place Athissa had marked for us to stay overnight in.

I know we had the bedding, but I was hoping that the place we were staying was going to be decent. Back on the covert mission with the Reapers, the basement we had been staying in was more than warm enough, and the beds were actually kind of comfortable. But judging by the fact that most of the bedding had been stuffed into two medium-sized backpacks, I don't think the quality was quite up to the Reaper's standards. Though, maybe that's cause Vipers didn't need so much padding to have a comfortable night's sleep. Though if they were the same as the beds we used when we stayed in Athissa's tent, it shouldn't be too bad. I fell asleep quite quickly on that one, though I suppose I was quite exhausted, both physically and mentally.

"Who's the Viper we are rescuing then? Ash?" Kassara asked, attaching her walkie-talkie back onto her armor. She actually had it upside down at the bottom of her armor, as there wasn't a decent place to put it on at the top of the armor due to the shoulder and neck protection.

"That's just the callsign she had given in the communications Athissa made with her. Could be the name she calls herself, could be just a codename so she wasn't found out. Athissa said she's a bit of a tech fiend, that she sent coordinates to small devices that allowed for proper communication between us. She said that she was going to try and sabotage the Advent network to aid in her being able to slip away unnoticed, as well as steal some intel at the same time. I guess she got caught on the last bit." Ethera answered nonchalantly as she finished testing the last radio, meaning we were all fully geared up and ready for the mission tomorrow.

"We could probably use somebody who knows how to deal with tech, though we don't exactly have anything of the sort around camp, other than the tiny little transmitter Athissa uses" Astrith added.

"I don't think we could settle down long enough to support having high-grade technology with us at the moment, if we stop moving we become prey for the Hunter" Hettie dismissed quickly. "But the transmitter could definitely be upgraded. It seems that it has already cost us lives" She murmured, more glances being shot in my direction.

"I don't particularly want to think about this at the moment. Let's just find where Athissa has marked out for us to stay, it's going to start getting cold soon" Ava interrupted, trying to draw attention away from the topic. I feel like it's less because she's uncomfortable about talking about what happened to Raina, she certainly didn't really shy away before. But maybe more that she knew she would just end up getting angry at me again. Maybe she was just trying to avoid it for that reason.

Ethera pulled out the crumpled map from her backpack, opening it up in front of her. It looked like it was one of the really old maps that we used to use before Advent came along. It must have been so easy for them to produce the digitized maps I had used all the way through my education; they could just scan Earth's geography from space and transfer it straight to the network for access across Advent controlled areas. I wonder how long it took the Vipers here to learn how to read the maps, I heard they were pretty difficult to decipher if you didn't know what you were doing.

"Alright, it's not too far away, it seems like it's an old structure that should be uninhabited, it's not near any of the nearby settlements at all." Ethera said as she observed the map. Her clawed finger traced along the map, I could see the indentation of her claw through the paper move from one place to another as she spoke. " We should be headed west for roughly 10 minutes, shouldn't be long. Let's get going"

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 15:17 EST, 05/11/2035, Location: South Africa)

We made the short walk towards the west, following Ethera's lead as we walked along the road away from the hill. Just over half a mile down the road after it bent away from the hill was a small, grey building off to the right. We all approached cautiously, Ava raising her weapon to her shoulder and a finger to her lips as we closed the distance. The building was made up of a somewhat large area all paved over in concrete, with 4 identical machines all spaced equally apart, based on pillars that held the roof above them, which also connected to the small building to the side which overlooked the entire area.

I remember seeing stuff like this back in Advent, these were the old pumping stations they used to use for the cars. They were all torn down in the Advent controlled areas I was in very quickly. Cars actually become severely less used in the first few months of the enlightenment, as there were very few people employed outside of their own cities who needed to use them. With the decrease in human population and Advent's effort to open up new research centers, gene clinics, food centers, and other job opportunities, it was easy to settle for a job close to home. And with all the licensing and costs of getting new cars within Advent, however, didn't help in people getting new cars, so I suppose there wasn't much interest in owning one, all things put together. Then add in the immigration of alien species into the Advent controlled centers as well, places looked to be thriving under their control. But they replaced all the fuel pumps that were leading the planet to an early death with elerium powered electric chargers. All cars were made with electrical batteries, and charged with elerium, a 100% efficient synthetic fuel. I'm surprised this building stood the test of time, but it's obviously not been used in decades, to no surprise.

Ava glanced back towards me and Astrith, pointing to the right side of the small grey-bricked building, where there was a small blue door slightly ajar. I left with Astrith, staying low to the ground and moving quietly, trying to reduce the dragging noise my tail made on the ground as I moved. I watched back as she and Zero split off on their own around the other side of the building, whilst Ethera and Hettie headed towards the front of the building. A small fear raised in my neck at the thought of Ava putting herself alone with Zero. It didn't take much of my imagination to run wild in my head before I was thinking that she would shoot Zero if they found someone inside, and claim he was shot by the person inside. For all I know she was just as unstable towards Zero as Elena was towards me, where if we were actually alone together, Elena might actually try and kill me. Or Goblin, for that matter, the same was true with him. I reassured myself quickly that Ava was better than this, that she was professional enough to know that doing anything would result in the mission being called a failure, and any chance of a relationship between X-Com and the Liberated scarpered.

"On three, okay?" Astrith whispered to me, as she waited on the left side of the door. I gave her a quick nod, signaling my alertness, as I checked I was in the automatic fire mode of my weapon, tilting the weapon to the side to use the red-dot sight on the 45 degree angle of the barrel. She moved her fingers to the handle of the door, ready to open it for me to look into the room when she did. I watched her as she mouthed the numbers to me, on her three, she yanked open the door, as I entered the room in front. I had entered into a small corridor, with a few supplies lining a shelf to my right, on a brief inspection they look like cleaning supplies. This must have just been an emergency exit which they also used to store stuff that belonged to the actual place in. I moved forward, Astrith behind me, entering into the larger room in front of us. I currently stood behind a counter of some sort, with a register on top, and a couple items around me, clear and colorful bottles dotting the wall behind me, though they didn't appear to have any liquids in them, at least not anymore. I moved to my right, out from behind the counter so I could move about the room more freely. This place seemed to be an old shop of some kind, and it certainly smelled like it. It was an almost sour smell, but every breath I took I could almost feel the dust I was breathing in. I don't think anybody was here, but I guess you couldn't be too careful. I looked towards the front door of the building, to see Hettie at the glass door, with only one window also on her side of the building. She was trying to open the door, but it looks like it was locked, and I couldn't see any other doors entering from the opposite side of the store on a quick glance, and only an area to my right that looked like it might open into two more rooms. I lowered myself below the shelves that created aisles in the store, Ethera following my lead, as we split up to either side of the first aisle, before moving to the next aisle, weapons at the ready if someone was hiding in one of them. There were only a few items on some of the shelves, most of it was empty, if it was used for selling stuff at one point it was either or sold, or possibly looted. We slowly made our way towards the end, checking we could see each other as each aisle passed, the front area was clear. I approached the front door, turning the lock from the inside of the door, and swung it open for the two Vipers to join us inside.

"There's more near the back of the store, we need to go check it out" I whispered to Hettie and Ethera as they entered, before we headed as a group towards the opening at the back. As we approached, we all heard the whining of a door being opened, the old hinges making sure to make us all aware of someone's presence in the store. I watched as the other Vipers all tensed up, their guns at the ready. I approached the first corner, not peeking around it yet. If there was someone there, they probably weren't aware of our presence yet. Their's no need to shoot at them, unless I see a gun pointed in my direction. I took a breath, readying myself, and whipped around the corner, pointing at where I had heard the sound of the door come from. I watched as the human in my sights jumped, startled, as he backed into the doorway he had been waiting in. Zero peeked back out, flashing me a quick grin to say 'you got me', as he re-drew his pistol, nodding his head towards the other room. The corner I had just turned served as a connector for access to two rooms at the back, they were fairly small by the looks of it. The left room was the room Zero had come from, they must have found a way into that room from the back. The other room still had a closed door, but if someone was here, they knew we were here as well now. I approached the next door, trying the handle. It was locked. I looked back to Zero with a shrug, as he approached instead. He obviously knew what he was going to do. I watched as he lined up with the door, taking three steps back, then taking a running kick at the door, putting the whole force of his body behind him. The door easily cracked open under the force of his foot, the rusted lock not doing enough to hold him back. He quickly jammed his pistol in front of him, aiming at the empty room that only consisted of a table and some chairs.

"We're safe, nothing's here" I announced back to the group, watching them visibly un-tense, their weapons relaxing back to their sides, and they began to move again, moving towards the front of the store. I looked back to Zero, who was now sat against the wall nursing his leg. I took a moment to realize what had happened, but once I did, I couldn't hold back the laughter at his expense.

"Shut up, it looked cool when I saw the troopers do it on TV" he defended meekly, shooting me a grin as I watched him roll back his leg clothing to inspect his knee. Strangely enough, his leg didn't have the same fine hairs that adorned his arm, but they were coarser, much more like the hair on his head, maybe even thicker, small black hairs that made it look more like fur than it did skin. I couldn't help but recoil as I thought about what it would feel like for a moment, trying to make it so it wasn't visible to Zero.

"Well, I guess it did look pretty cool until you started crying on the floor afterward" I teased. The others hadn't paid any attention to him, they were all just getting everything out of the bags in the main section of the story. "Do you need a hand? Like is it seriously hurt?"

"No, I don't think it's bad. It's just like a dull ache. I'm fine." He reassured, waving his hand in dismissal of my question. I placed my rifle in my left hand, offering my right towards him to use to get up. He put his pistol back in his belt, before reaching back for my hand without any words, his soft skin brushing against the scales on my hand before he grasped it properly, pulling himself up using my weight.

"Thanks" He gave a smile back at me for my troubles, as we left to meet up with the other four. They were just pulling out all the mats, but there didn't seem to be anything to cover us, like the duvets provided at X-Com. This wasn't really a problem though, it was still relatively warm during the nights, and if I'm really cold, I can just curl up on myself to conserve heat. Though over time and with little food in cold conditions I wouldn't fare quite so well.

"Alright, so the best place for us to sleep here is probably in that back room Zero just kicked the door out of, if we can take out the table and chairs to make space, but I think we could only fit five of us in there" Ava announced, emptying the last sleeping roll from the backpacks onto the floor, discarding the empty bag onto the counter of the shop. So there was obviously an issue here then, in that some others would have to find somewhere else to sleep. It was easy to see that obviously, the four Vipers would go together, so they probably had that room, maybe they would try to get me to join them, but I didn't want to exclude Zero to that degree.

"It's alright, I'm happy sleeping on my own" Zero responded before I had finished my thought process. I quickly interjected before any of the other Vipers could agree with him.

"It's fine, I'll stay with Zero. We can stay in the other room" I suggested, which was met with multiple glances from the other Vipers, their brow lines raising in a similar fashion to how a human's would, trying to imply their little 'inside joke' to the situation. What was their problem? It made sense for me to stay with Zero, why would they have to look at it like that when it clearly isn't the case.

"Well, as long as we have something sorted out" Hettie commented, the only Viper not to be giving me the look, continuing the conversation. "The sun's pretty much completely set already, so we can get to bed soon, and get up ready for tomorrow. We will show Advent the threat we can be with the help of X-Com. No more skulking around stealing easily replaced supplies or risky intel raids. We can show Advent what they can expect from us from now on" She uttered confidently, not once her expression changing from a neutral one. But she had been eyeing her weapon the entire time. I wonder if it was more that she wanted a chance to use it. I could remember how exhilarating my first fight was, the adrenaline rushing through you, I could see the high becoming addicting. I wonder if any of these Vipers have ever shot their weapon before?

We spent the next couple of hours just sitting around and chatting with each other. Zero initially suggested maybe getting a fire started to sit around, but unfortunately, with the area we were in, there were very few places we could get a fuel for the fire, like wood, unless we decided to burn up the table and chairs, but we decided it was just too much effort. So instead we had been sitting in the shop area, there was only really enough space to chat as a group near to the till, which Zero currently sat on, his legs kicking against the counter lightly, providing a small tapping that had only become slightly annoying now that I focused on it.

We had just been chatting amongst ourselves about nothing much in particular, but at least they were involving Zero in these conversations a bit more. Sure, Ava wouldn't direct any of her attention or words towards him, but the others were engaging him enough that it wasn't particularly noticeable, unless you were focusing on it. He seemed to be quite chilled out and relaxed about it, currently mocking the Advent Troopers with Astrith because of the helmets they wore, concealing their faces other than their mouths. If I didn't know any better, I would have said Astrith may have been trying to flirt with him a little bit. But it was not a very convincing attempt in the first place, and there was nothing to worry about in any case, he didn't have eyes for Vipers as it was.

But with it getting late, and everyone starting to get tired, we all agreed to call it a day and head off. I grabbed the roll mat from the counter next to Zero, who took the other, as we said goodnight to the group of Vipers, as they shut the door behind them, which would help keep them warm at least. As we entered our room, immediately the glaring issue that we had overlooked, which was that this room didn't have a sealed window, but it was smashed out, which is how Zero got in in the first place. So we didn't have the same luxury of gradual warmth that the other Vipers did. Zero laid out his mat without complaint, watching it slowly inflate itself as he unscrewed the cap. I followed his actions, rolling mine out too. They weren't the most ideal in terms of size, it was clear they were meant completely for humans; Aliens didn't have a need for these sort of beds, as they were expected to be within Advent controlled cities, where proper beds were made to fit each species. Vipers had much longer and wider ones than other species, to allow them to stretch out or curl out more. But no Viper would ever need a travel bed like this, they must be remnants from the old world of the humans.

Once my bed had inflated fully, I screwed the cap back on, watching on as Zero was already settling down onto his bed, having taken off his armor and laid his gun to his side, going to sleep in his shirt and trousers, sleeping on his side with his back turned to me, curling up tightly into a ball. I unclasped my armor, setting it against the wall, leaving me in my undershirt. I could already feel the slightly chilly air seeping between my scales, so with one last check towards the door to make sure it was closed, I too curled up on my bed as best as I could, pressing my chest against my own tail, conserving as much warmth as possible.

I must have fallen asleep quite quickly, maybe the tiredness over the past couple of days had caught up to me properly, but I don't remember spending long focusing on sleeping, it felt like I had just closed my eyes when a noise woke me once more. I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of Zero murmuring to himself, his back still turned away from me as he huddled himself tighter. I could see his body shivering, trying to generate as much heat as possible, I would suspect. I slowly unfurled from the position I had gone to sleep in, the heat I had conserved between my scales dissipating very rapidly, the cold washing over me and sending a shiver all the way down my spine. I could hear the droplets of rain hitting the roof, and echoing into our room from outside. No wonder it had got so cold, it wasn't too bad earlier, but the temperature must have dropped considerably since I went to sleep.

"Kassara? Are you awake?" Zero's voice called out into the darkness, the only light in the room was the small amount of reflected moonlight entering through the broken window, glinting off of the glass that still remained around the edges.

"Yeah, what's up?" I croaked back to him, sitting myself up from my bed. I swear it had deflated, or at least it just didn't feel that comfy. How could humans sleep on these things?

"Sorry...did I wake you up?" He asked. hesitating briefly, as he turned to face me, rolling onto his other side, still curled up.

"Yeah, I think so. You look so cold. Are you ok?" I responded, trying to voice my concerns, but it sounded a little more monotonous than I had meant it to be. He sat in silence for a couple of seconds before he responded.

"Yeah, I'm freezing. I should have bought a blanket or something" He sighed dejectedly, still huddled up in his little ball. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, it was cold enough for me, even with the protection of my scales. His skin didn't give him the same protection, as far as I knew. It would have been so much better if we just went in the other room, at least the room would stay a bit warmer with our body heat. But that gave me a quick idea to help with Zero, if he wanted to do it.

"Hey, come sleep with me. I can help keep you warm" I suggested, still whispering out into the darkness. I watched him wait, my eyes starting to adjust to the lowlight, I could just about make out his facial features.

"Yes, please...Thank you, Kassara" He eventually decided, stretching out from the tight huddled position he was in, going onto his knees before he stood up. "How...How do you want to do this?"He asked, making his way over to where my mat was. I reached up in silence to grab his hand with mine, guiding him towards me. His hand was just as soft as I remembered it from earlier, it felt oddly satisfying against my scales. As I pulled him towards me slowly, forcing him to fall onto one knee, his head now level with mine. I slowly leaned my body back towards my bed, having released his hand to let him find his own way down. He lowered himself down next to me, pretty much just lying on the floor on his back. I couldn't help but smile slightly at his slight uncertainty and nervousness.

"I'm not going to be able to keep you warm like that. Lay your head on my chest" I gently encouraged, watching as he turned to face me, before returning my smile, showing that he was comfortable with this. I suppose he just didn't want to push it too much. He propped himself up on his elbow, before lowering his head down to my chest, settling just below my neck, his ear pressed just above my breasts. He draped one of his arms across my body, his hand brushing against the side of my chest. I lowered my arms down to his body, pulling the rest of him close into me, I could feel how cold he was already, his skin was like ice.

"Hey...thanks for this" He muttered once more, I could feel his jaw moving as he spoke.

"It's fine, Zero. I can't leave you to freeze to death overnight" I gave a small laugh. I let my tail find his legs, both down by my side, just narrowly on the mat we now lay on. I slowly coiled his legs in my tail, the soft fabric that covered them did little to stop them feeling squeezable. I could feel my heat start draining to him, as he still shivered for the moment in my embrace, his arm tightening around my chest every so often as he warmed up.

"I need to ask...are you okay with the Vipers here?" I questioned, asking him as I knew he was still awake, as I could feel him move very slightly within me, not struggling, but getting more comfortable. I didn't have him wrapped up tightly, so he could still move easily.

"What, these four?" He started, his voice low and quiet, I could barely pick up his sound, but it felt nice to listen to regardless. "They're okay, I guess. It still feels like they're only being nice to me as a courtesy. But I suppose that's just how it is, right?" He wondered, his voice sometimes going back into a whisper from the low, resonating vibrations I could feel from his chest.

"I think so." I conceded. I guess they didn't really hide it that well, they've kept mostly to themselves. And I've been stuck in between staying with Zero or trying to talk to the Vipers whilst I could. And it's been amazing to know that I'm not alone here, that I'm not the only Viper fighting against Advent, it gave me hope. But I was blinded a bit too much by my own blindness, I was too busy thinking about myself, and not the person that I was supposed to be protecting here.

"I'm sorry for spending so much time with them recently, I didn't mean to leave you out or anything" I apologized softly to him, keeping my voice down so as not to wake up the others in the room next to ours. He wasn't particularly heavy, though it was a little disconcerting to have the added weight on my chest, it was something I could get used to easily. I could feel the few gaps between our bodies heating up quickly between our combined body warmth, and his shivering had pretty much stopped. I became more conscious of the fact that my chest would raise his head along with it as I was breathing, but it wasn't something I could readily stop. I hope it wasn't too distracting for him.

"I don't blame you" he responded, letting enough silence linger between our statements. We were both very tired, it wouldn't be long before I was just expecting not to hear a reply. It filled me with a brief flurry of happiness at the thought of this happening, but it quickly faded as soon as it came. "I can empathize with what it's like for you on the Avenger." I thought about what he had said, maybe he could see similarities, but it was different. But I think it helped to know that he understood what it was like in my position, it put me slightly at ease, I would say.

"Your heart beats super slow like" He muttered tiredly, breaking the thoughts I was thinking to myself. I looked down to the human still lying against my chest, his ear pressed above where my heart would be. He sounded like he was dropping off quickly, it was...I would say cute, the way he mumbled his words half-mindedly.

"I don't know what you're talking about Zero" I smiled down at him. I watched as he moved his chest away from my underside, his arm reaching to grab my forearm. I relented, letting him find my hand, and guide it to his chest, laying my fingers on the left side of his chest. I could feel his heart beating underneath his clothes against my hand, just over once per second, if I had to estimate. It was kind of surprising to me, I guess, it was almost twice as fast as mine, I could see why he would be surprised by my heart rate. He let my arm go again, settling back to lying on me again. I became more conscious of the feeling of his chest beating rhythmically into me, though it was very faint. His hand reached back around me, pressing back against my side, hugging me tighter.

"Humans are surprisingly nice to hug" I commented myself, wrapping my arms back around his back. The small size of his waist made it relatively comfortable to just lay my hands there, pulling him into me.

"We aren't hugging," He said with a half-hearted chuckle, his body twitching once under his laugh. "This is called cuddling"

"What's the difference?" I asked distractedly, still looking down at him, with his head on my chest and his eyes closed, it almost felt...I don't know. Real. Though even I didn't know what I meant, but it's the best way I could describe it.

"Hugging is just embracing one, and then letting go, after like, a second. Cuddling is like just holding onto someone, and staying with them. Like we are doing now" He explained slowly, lazily, his words almost slurred, not once changing how he was lying on me. "And you're nice to cuddle...you are so warm... it's amazing" I felt myself flutter a little at his words. I could see he was starting to breath slower though, he was almost asleep.

"Goodnight" I whispered back to him, hearing no response. I felt warm, and not just because Zero had heated up a little, and I could now feel the heat coming back from him onto me, but I also felt warm inside. Maybe I could make this moment last a little longer for me.

* * *

(Corporal 'Zero', 01:43 EST, 05/12/2035, Location: South Africa)

"Morning, sleepyheads"

I opened my eyes, initially blinded by the light bursting into the room, but once they overcame the initial shock, I could see where I currently was. I was still wrapped up in the coils of Kassara, in her bed. I felt so toasty, it was amazing. I remember feeling how hot she was when she first touched me, her hand on mine. It was like putting my hand against a radiator, it was lovely. Now my face was still against her chest, her warmth still cooking me slowly. But on the recent disruption, I could feel her tail slowly unfurl from me, as she let out a small moan, stretching her tail out. I could feel myself begin to cool down rapidly from where she used to cover me. I pushed myself up from her, onto my knees, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, whilst she stretched out her arms, now free from my back.

I watched as she finished her stretch, looking up towards the voice that had awoken us, before suddenly shifting, her eyes staring wildly at Hettie, before she quickly brought her hands to her face, hiding away from her.

"Seems like you were glad you got to stay in a room with Zero. Lucky guy" She said with what I could only describe as a smirk. She seemed entertained by the situation if I had to guess. The insinuation of her statement made me panic slightly, I didn't want them to think that I liked Kassara in that way.

"Nothing happened" Kassara quickly defended herself. "He was cold, so I helped keep him warm"

"Uh-huh, you sure did. I'm sure the others will believe you. We're heading off once we're all packed up, so hurry up. We can't wait for long" Hettie nodded slowly at Kassara, before leaving the room, not closing the door behind her. I was still a little bemused by the situation, and Kassara seemed so embarrassed by it. It had only just been a cuddle, pretty much entirely for warmth. Did she care that much what the other Vipers thought maybe? Or maybe it's because she wanted the cuddle to be more? I looked over to where she was currently writhing slightly, her head down into her arms. I couldn't help but start laughing at her, it was a funny reaction to have regardless. She quickly noticed me laughing, snapping up to face me, her upset expression clearing slightly, trying to return to a soft smile.

"You are upset that she saw us?" I asked, trying to talk her out of the early morning mood Hettie had put her into.

"Well, no. But yes. They were saying earlier that you liked me, and I told them that you didn't and there's nothing between us" She relented, with very little pressure, revealing the issue to me perfectly. She was concerned that the Vipers were going to keep teasing her about our theoretical relationship, and possibly in front of me. "So this...kind of looks really bad. I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by last night, really"

"I know, I didn't take it any other way" I comforted her, slowly getting to my feet. I headed over to my mat, unscrewing the cap on it, kneeling down on it as I rolled it up, pushing the air out. "I would have hated freezing into a block of ice, so thank you" I watched her pause, before smiling to herself again, getting on with folding up her bed as well.

"It's the least I could have done. You were shaking like mad" She recalled. "But it was nice 'cuddling' with you for the night" I nodded in return, finishing up rolling my mat, and picking up my weapons again, waiting patiently for Kassara to finish rolling up the mat and putting on her armor, before we headed out to the front of the store, where all four Vipers were waiting for us, all shooting knowing looks at Kassara. It appears Hettie had obviously told them of how she found us. My mind was already playing out the worst case scenarios, of the supposed knowledge that these Vipers now had finding its way onto the Avenger, and everyone I knew thinking I had a thing for Kassara.

"Good morning the two of you" Ethera greeted, leaning herself against the counter at the front. The shop looked a lot brighter and welcoming with the sunlight shining through, though it also showed how dusty this place was exactly. "I'm hoping you aren't going to distract each other on our mission today, right?" She asked, accompanied by snickering from Ava and Astrith.

"No, we'll be fine. There's nothing between us" I dismissed their concerns, grabbing the backpack and putting my mat in it, before taking the mat off of Kassara, forcing it into the little space available for it in the bag.

"Kassara insisted the same yesterday" Ava teased, continuing on from Ethera. "We don't blame her, you know. Or you; humans are quite easy to become obsessed with anything that looks attractive."

"They make a cute couple" Astrith chimed in, clasping her hands together in delight at us. "Have you guys kissed yet? Did you kiss last night?"

"What? No" Kassara asserted herself. "He doesn't like Vipers in that way, the same as I don't see humans in that way."

I watched as Hettie rolled her eyes at us, before turning back to Ethera, wanting to move us away from this, and onto more important tasks at hand.

"Let's get going, we don't have time to waste." She pressed, leading the way out of our temporary hotel, holding the door open for us on our way out.

We made our way back along the road to our ambush spot. The Vipers left the issue about me and Kassara alone for now, though they didn't leave the topic alone, talking again about Viper-Human relationships, trying to speculate at how many have actually tried it, and moving onto Viper-Viper partnerships, asking me if this was common amongst humans at all, so I told them about Brick a bit. Ethera identified Brick as the 'Beefy woman' that spoke to Athissa when I killed Raina, though bringing back up that particular event ended up silencing the conversation a little bit more. There it was, the indication that they were all still bothered by it. They made it more obvious than Goblin did with his hatred of Kassara.

We made one last check that our radios were all working, before Kassara and I headed up the hill, settling down at the top, watching over the trap with the sun warming our backs. Kassara seemed more at attention, happily watching for the convoy to arrive ahead of us, whilst I sat onto the dusty ground beneath me, my rifle in my lap as I looked down below. Hettie and Astrith waited at the side of the road, as planned, in their Advent gear, watching out for the trucks, whilst Ava and Ethera hid behind the rocky outcrop to the side. They were never gonna see what hit them.

"So will this make it my second prison break? Do you reckon this counts?" Kassara asked, not looking away from the road. I looked up to her, the particular angle I was at made her look amazing, intimidating, the armor wrapping around the lower part of her neck, the golden color of her hood hidden mostly behind the silver of the armor she wore. And her black chevron was completely hidden. Out of the Vipers I had seen here, Hettie probably had the most interesting markings. They looked almost like a cheetah, though they obviously extended more down her body. I hadn't really paid much attention before, but there wasn't really an easier way to tell them apart. They all sounded somewhat similar, disregarding intonations in pitch.

"Yeah, I'd say it counts" I responded, breaking out of my thoughts, however brief they were. "At least that way I get a story to tell to Elena, instead of the other way around"

"Ugh, that woman still scares me" Kassara commented dryly

"Elena? I don't like how she treats you...but she's not so bad of a person. She's...misguided. Stuck in her own ways" I shrugged. "I spoke with her a bit over my last covert mission. I think I persuaded her to cut you some slack...but I don't really know"

"That was you?" She asked, incredulous, finally taking her gaze away from the task we had set to us. "I was wondering what happened, she suddenly stopped screaming at me whenever she saw me. Like in the rec room when the Templar and Skirmisher decided to flash their weapons. And she also told me that you were in the infirmary after your mission" She explained, shaking her head briefly, before resuming her stance properly, weapon crossed across her body, waiting, watching.

"I...didn't think that would actually do much. I guess she kept to her word then." I gave a chuckle, remembering how she had shouted down Kassara at the party just two weeks ago. Maybe it was possible to get them to work together properly. Maybe it was possible to settle the differences between the factions, and maybe then we could actually let them help us properly in defeating and ridding Advent from this world. And their knowledge of the Elder's warriors would be priceless with the months to come. Maybe we could actually kill one for good.

 _'Look, it's cute and all guys, but Zero, your walkie talkie is still turned on, and we can all hear you'_ A voice crackled over Kassara's walkie-talkie, causing us both to look down to where she had placed it on her armor. I fumbled quickly for mine, the button was caught on my vest, it had pressed it in so I was just transmitting my entire conversation to the other Vipers. I'm glad that they only heard my saying that, rather than something more private or personal. I looked down to where Ethera was, giving us a wave with her hand. I raised my hand quickly to signal I had gotten the message, cringing inwardly as I sighed at my own ineptitude. I was surprised Kassara was keeping a straight face, but a glance up to her told me that she was still struggling with it.

 _'Convoy is on its way. Three vehicles, one of which is a large van. That's probably the one with Ash in it. Wait for my mark, then take the shots on the driver'_

I quickly repositioned myself from where I was, transitioning from sitting down to lying on my front, my rifle in front of me, as I brought my eye back down to the sights. Looking down the road, I could see the dust trails forming behind them, making it all the more obvious that they were coming. I waited for them to come closer, watching as they did indeed slow down to the two hailing Viper, the first car coming to a stop, forcing the van, and the last car at the back to also stop. They were all a sleek black design, with tinted windows, other than the windshields. The two cars looked very low down to the ground, I suppose that's what the Advent vehicles were just like. Hettie approached the driver side of the first car, holding her weapon in one hand as she spoke to the driver.

 _'Now'_

I didn't hesitate, neither did Kassara. My volley left my barrel slightly earlier than Kassara fired, but her plasma beam clearly cracked through the windshield first, the helmet of the Captain suffering the round, only to find the follow-up alloy from my rifle to make sure he was truly dead. With his head slumped off to the side, the other troops in the vehicles quickly tried to get out and find more cover. Hettie and Astrith both gunned down the two troopers in the first vehicle before they could think about getting out. A stun lancer removed himself from the passenger seat of the van, whilst three more troopers got out of the final car, one taking cover behind the back, the other two rushing towards the few rocks that provided cover. I was about to line up my second shot on the stun lancer, when I caught glimpse of a slight glint off in the distance, on top of one of the hills, like a small mirror had reflected the sunlight back into my eyes. I thought nothing of it initially, pushing my eyes back down towards the scope, when there was a slight crackle of our radios, a new voice populating the air waves.

 _'Incoming'_ The voice rasped, his sinister voice chilling me slightly. I didn't wait, I knew exactly what it was. I dropped my gun, practically jumping to my feet and leaping at Kassara in a fluid action, tackling her just as she took her next shot, causing her beam to fire up into the air. I heard something whizz straight behind my head, just above my back, to the left of where Kassara had been. If I had tackled her any higher, I reckon that round may have found me.

 _'What's happening!_ _'_ Ava called back up to us. I glanced back down to the fight below us, the two troopers who had made for the rocks lay dead, only two of the enemies left, the lancer and one more Trooper by the cars. The Lancer dashed towards Hettie, his sword already drawn, but Astrith was quick to interrupt it, her tongue grappling around its neck, toppling her foe as she dragged it towards her, as it clawed at its neck. I watched as Kassara recovered quickly, looking down her scope already, but not at the last Trooper. No, she was looking further up the road, not at the hill I had seen the glint from. I was right about it, it was a Sniper shot, but the glint must have been from something from around a kilometer away, maybe just less. For all I know the shot was taken at the same time as the being said 'incoming' over our comms. It was no doubt as to who it was, it was the Elder's marksman. I watched Kassara steady herself before she fired her beam again. Once more, our radios erupted with the sound of the creature, though through its rasping noises, it was clearly pain you could hear; Kassara had found her mark.

' _Gah...what is that rifle? There is no travel time on that round of plasma...'_ He wondered aloud to us. ' _I'm impressed by your shot, Viper. Maybe I should have aimed for you instead.'_

Was he aiming for me? The shot he fired was nowhere near where I had been lying, it wasn't even low enough. Unless he fired it...knowing I would move. Knowing I was going to take an effort to avoid the shot.

 _'That would have been one of my finest shots. I predicted that the wrong person would act, unfortunately. Oh well, today is just not the day you end up in my trophy cabinet'_ His voice continued in our radios, taunting us, his arrogance completely evident, just by how he spoke, by what he said. I motioned to Kassara that we couldn't stay up here, as I quickly slid down the hill down towards the cars. Hettie found her next shot on the Trooper, meaning none of the guards were left in the convoy. I sprinted my way up the road, Kassara darting alongside me, towards the cars, closing the distance quickly.

 _'My, just look at how frightened you are. Did you not expect me? Did your friends really think I didn't notice your quaint little plan of theirs? Oh, dreadful it would have been for X-Com for their operative to be lost on their first mission with these renegades, these double-crossers. Don't you worry, I've had my fun, you can claim your prize.'_ He spoke slowly, confidently. This wasn't something he took seriously, was it? This was a game to him. I grabbed my received, pulling it up to my mouth to respond to the taunting voice, but I found myself lost for words. What would I even say to this being?

 _'This has been a learning experience. I was hoping that some of you could handle yourselves down here; there's no sport in shooting fish in a barrel. It gets boring simply picking one of these defectors of one at a time.'_

"Who are you?" I asked finally, watching as the other Vipers all came to stand by the van, listening to what was happening, whilst trying to get some cover from the Sniper, though for some reason, I believed him, that he wasn't going to take another shot. But he was still watching, talking, listening to us.

 _'I care not for the titles you will catch my siblings spouting at you. I'm simply one of the Elder's chosen, tasked with removing a few peas from the pod, so to say, of the Liberated. Oh, and now with thinning the herd of X-Com as well. Tell your Commander to be more careful sending out his troops to the field, I want this to be an exhilarating hunt.'_

And with that, the purple pillar of light that I had seen spawn the Warlock, now encompassed one of the hills in the distance. He was gone. I put my receiver away, breathing out the breath I had held in, the tension that had been building in my chest now, as I leaned back against the spoiler of the first car.

"What was that?" Astrith asked, her weapon by her side

"The Hunter" Kassara answered for me. "Seems he's followed us out here. He must have known where we were since yesterday. How come he didn't attack when we were asleep?"

"Maybe he only knew about this place, not the place we were staying. We'll have to let Athissa know what's happened. Anyway, let's get Ash out, we need to get back" Ethera ordered, moving around to the back of the truck. The rest of us followed, other than Hettie, who entered the front of the truck, grabbing keys from the Captain, throwing them back towards Ethie. We all watched as she unlocked the doors, opening them to reveal Ash, a Viper who seemed to have lost the typical yellow pigmentation, and was instead a light beige-gray color, even lighter on her underside. She didn't wear the typical armor that Viper guards wore, but instead it was a much thinner black metal, not one that would serve well as armor, but looked to almost serve the same purpose as a dress would for a human. It covered her more than Kassara's previous armor, falling below her hips, the classic clasps on the sides of the metal for taking off and on. The plates weren't very visible, even from up close, from a small distance it would look much smoother than it did from less than a foot away. She looked up at us with knowing eyes, huddled in the back of the van, with her hands tied behind her back. Ava entered the truck to help her out, helping her raise to her tail properly, so she could exit.

"Thank you, I was half expecting to be left, I deserved it for being so reckless" She hissed softly. She sounded weak, even if she didn't particularly look it.

"Zero, do you have your knife on you?" Kassara asked, motioning towards the cable ties that were around her wrists. That's a little strange that they didn't use handcuffs, they would be much more secure than these. I pulled my penknife out of my pocket, clicking it open and cutting through the ties.

"Ash, right?" Astrith confirmed, watching the greyed Viper nod as her hands were freed by me.

"Yes, I'm Ash. I owe you all for freeing me, really" She thanked quickly, her voice slightly more timid than the others, though I'm not sure whether to attribute that to whether she was weakened now, or whether she was just more shy in person. She didn't seem to be a guard, like the other Vipers, maybe she was a civilian? That would explain why she was good with tech, if it was a hobby of hers.

"It's not us you should be thanking, Athissa has arranged this all. We'll take you back now. This is Ethera, Ava, and Astrith, we're all part of the Liberated. Zero and Kassara here are both from X-Com" Hettie explained, pointing to each of us in turn.

"Wait...the terrorists? You work with the terrorists? What have I got myself into..." She said, a startled look adorning her features, her red eyes widened in contrast to the rest of her color.

"They...they aren't what Advent make them out to be. They want to free humanity. We're hoping they can work with us to free the Alien races as well." Ethera soothed quickly, putting her hand on the shoulder of Ash, in an attempt to comfort her. "Come on, we'll talk to you about us and X-Com more as we head back, we need to return as soon as possible. I'm sure Zero will be happy to tell you more about them if you need, he's the reason we've been able to rescue you today."

The new Viper nodded briefly, obviously still a little scared from the whole ordeal, but she looked to be okay otherwise. She didn't have any injuries on her scales, and she could move fine. I still had my mind half on the hunter, however. How close was I to actually dying? Who was he? I know I had seen the Warlock before, that was one experience, but here was one of those creatures that could do exactly what I do, but so much better. Kassara did well to get a shot off onto him at all, the purple pillar of light was still a way away, I wouldn't have risked taking the shot unless the rest of our squad had proper sights on him. And his words were still a little haunting. It made you feel like a chess piece, just another part of his game. I feared the next time I met him, I wouldn't be quite so lucky.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

(Sergeant 'Zero', 07:28 EST, 05/12/2035)

We had begun making our travel back towards the main camp of The Liberated, with everyone's heads held high. We had completed the mission without a single casualty, so we had nothing but success to report back, other than reporting back about the ambush from the Hunter. I suppose that means Athissa would need to be more careful about sending out squads to do missions, maybe, it would be a good way of reducing The Liberated's effectiveness anyway. Ava had taken it upon herself to help explain who The Liberated were, and what they did to Ash, leaving us to chat amongst ourselves. Kassara was talking more to the other Vipers, leaving me mostly to my own devices for the moment, slightly away from the rest of the group.

I had been watching the grey Viper as she spoke to Ava, who was the other side of her from me. I couldn't quite look at her face, but her grey scales were just so impressive. It was nothing I had ever seen. Along her back and tail were small splotches of slightly darker grey; her patterns. Was it some form of albinism? Certainly, the other Vipers hadn't taken much notice of the coloring, so maybe it wasn't something horrifically irregular, after all, the Matriarch was a much deeper brown hue compared to most of the Vipers I had seen. Maybe it was just another variation.

My attention broke away from Ash briefly as I spotted Ava's slit pupils settle on my face for a brief moment, flicking back to Ash, her voice quietening slightly so she wasn't audible to either me nor the others. I thought maybe I had been intruding on what they were saying, and Ava was just trying to keep her conversation with Ash private, so I initially looked away. However, I glanced back over to them, watching as Ava continued to speak to Ash, before Ash turned to face me. The horror she tried to hide was all too obvious, so obvious I knew exactly what Ava had just told her. I turned away, not wanting to give Ava the satisfaction of knowing she had got to me.

As if Ash needed anything else to fear regarding X-Com. She already viewed us as Advent portrayed us; as terrorists. It's amazing that even a Viper who was ready to leave Advent for a resistance group had this idea so ingrained into her, that despite us now fighting against the same enemies, we were still some unknown hostile force intent on destroying everything. Not that I necessarily knew whether X-Com fought for the other Alien races, to be honest. With our new alliances with the three, soon to be four factions, it was getting harder and harder to define what we were fighting for. The freeing of humanity from the grasp of Advent, yes, but what about the other races? The Vipers, the Sectoids, the Mutons, the Advent Troops...where do we start, and where do we draw the line? If they all are raised, or born, or created, all thinking we are the enemy, like Ash does, why would they think that we would be fighting for them if we were? It was easier to just ignore and say that these were things we could deal with once we had taken down the Elders.

"Hey, Zero," Kassara spoke as she placed her claw on my shoulder, drawing my attention towards her. "We should probably go and speak to the Viper before we arrive back at the camp"

"Maybe it would be best if you spoke with her." I suggested, turning around to face her, the sunlight shifting from my face to the back of my neck, instantly starting to cook my skin that had previously been in the shade.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think she's a fan of X-Com as it is, having a Viper speak to her would be better to bridge the gap," I reasoned, before relenting my actual concern to her. "And I think Ava spoke to her about why we are here helping in the first place. So... yeah, I might not be making the best first impression myself." I admitted with a sigh. The last thing we needed was to cast doubts in the mind of a Viper trying to join up with The Liberated. Did she really have anywhere else to go now? I looked back over towards Ash, still talking to Ava. It was a huge commitment leaving Advent, you couldn't go back, and your life is going to be constantly threatened. It's the same fears I had leaving Advent, choosing danger over the safety you were used to. Although I didn't really have much choice in the matter, I was fairly sure if I stayed I would have ended up in one of those green tubes in some hidden facility, nothing but a decaying mass of human genetic material. The Matriarch took my blood sample as well… I wonder if I was actually part of that small pool of people they were looking for.

Kassara also watched on towards Ava and Ash, having followed my gaze over towards them. She turned back, putting on a confident smile, as she clasped her hand around my back, guiding me gently over. "Come on, we don't need to hide anything, we'll just be honest." She reassured. "You always were with me."

I could feel my throat going funny for several reasons all at once, I looked up into her soft crimson eyes, they were enough to fully convince me that she was right. As I stopped my resistance to her hand guiding me over towards Ash and Ava, she let it drop from my back. As we drew Ash's attention from Ava, she seemed to put some kind of guard up almost immediately. The way she held her body towards us, it was almost defensive. Her tail did the same thing I had seen in Kassara where the very tip remained restless in comparison to the rest of her tail, not following the natural flow as we moved along. Though I had seen that more in Kassara when she was flustered rather than nervous or scared. Maybe uncomfortable would be the better way to describe it.

"Hi, Ash." Kassara greeted chirpily, though not extending a hand, or even nodding in her direction.

"Kassara, Zero." Ash nodded, regardless. "Ava has told me a bit about the two of you. X-Com doesn't sound as bad as what I have heard of them, and I do need to thank the both of you for helping break me out as well."

"Yes, I remember the common perceptions others had of X-Com. Dissidents, terrorists, saboteurs." Kassara recalled. "In some regards, they are right, but we fight for a change, to free the races enslaved by the Elders, and to free those restricted and governed under Advent."

"You left Advent by your own choice, right? What made you decide to leave?" I asked, watching as Ava peeled away, returning to the rest of the Vipers. I suppose she wasn't that interested in the conversation.

"Well...I got a little too interested in a bit of workplace exploration, I guess you could say." She started.

"Where did you work?" I quickly asked, before she continued her story.

"Advent general communications. Mostly just managing the traffic through the Advent network, you know, troubleshooting across entire sectors, for instance, the place I worked covered half of the West African sector and the entirety of the South African sector. But I decided to have a bit of fun whilst I worked and taught myself how to bypass security codes, so I had a lot of access to anything traveling through the network. That's where I've been getting the information I've been sending to Athissa." She explained, pausing briefly between sentences. She still didn't seem entirely comfortable in our presence, but her initial unease was no longer as pronounced.

"What did you find?" I asked, wondering what the kicker was, what caused her to finally decide to completely leave Advent for good. Did she find out about the gene therapy clinic processing? Maybe the Viper clones? Maybe she found out the reason the Elders were actually here...

"I first found out information about the Advent troops, about the several cloning facilities they had spotted around. I had thought they were human up until that point, even reading it I still wasn't sure what to believe. I dug a little deeper, until I found information pertinent to some sort of project, or rather a collection of them, but most of it was hidden behind a bunch of firewalls that would trip alarms if I tried to bypass them, even if I succeeded. So, I decided I'd trip the alarms before I left, try and get what I could from there. Turns out the alarms aren't just like an alert or something, it summoned a squad of Advent soldiers, and it locked down the building I was in. I couldn't get out." She recounted, stuttering slightly over a few words, her English seemed fairly polished, but she struggled with a few words, similar to how I used to a bit more. She must not have spoken to many humans before, even as a civilian. "They didn't have handcuffs on them, but they found some zip-ties in the office I was in. I didn't fight. So yeah, I got a little greedy and got caught for it. But I discovered that the projects, whilst I couldn't find out more about them, were headed by our leader."

"A particular Elder?" I questioned. "You found the files that could explain why they are here?"

"No, no!" She hurriedly denied. "My leader. The Viper Matriarch. She's heading a bunch of different projects using Advent funding."

"You mean the cloned Vipers?" Kassara this time asked, but eliciting a similar response from Ash as she shook her head.

"Not just them. Several projects. Big ones. I don't know anything about them though, except for one particular project, which wasn't behind a wall, I think because it had been fully approved and was soon going to be in place. But I can only imagine they must help the Elders a lot if Advent are happy funding it."

"What does the project you know about do exactly?"

"Further genetic engineering to military Vipers to enhance them further. It was crazy, Athissa has the file now, but it was talking about effectively decommissioning a twentieth of the Viper guard population to get these 'upgrades' that would make them just deadlier." She said, taking a moment to sigh to herself briefly. "These Vipers aren't being used to help this world, this is about war, or control over something. The humans maybe? I knew that it was X-Com's fault that this was in place. I didn't think The Liberated were affiliated with you, though."

"No, this is our first mission with them. We're hoping they are willing to work with us further after this, the more help we have, the easier it will be to take Advent down and get the Elders off the planet." Kassara confirmed to her. The Viper still looked a little uneasy, but she was happily talking to us now regardless.

"Because you sha fla..." She poked her tongue out a little, as if she had just tasted something disgusting, or maybe a hair got into her mouth. "Sorry, words, I struggle with them sometimes" She apologized quickly, crossing her arms across her body. "It's because you killed her, wasn't it?" She bluntly corrected herself, avoiding my gaze. Ava had been telling her about it, as I had guessed.

"This mission specifically, yes. The entire situation was an accident, none of us really want to remember what happened," Kassara answered for me, noticing my hesitation. "We were reaching out to Athissa to try and secure our cooperation together. We're here to help each other out against our fights against the Elders. The sooner they are off this planet, the sooner Advent is dissolved, the sooner we can begin rebuilding it together, without governments looking to harvest and control the populations they preside over."

"Uh... harvest?"

"You forget people don't really know about this, Kassara." I gave a short grin to her as she noticed Ash's confusion. "She probably doesn't even know about the chips."

"Chips?" Ash again asked, confused by the secrets Kassara and I were talking about. "What are you on about?"

"Advent places chips in the heads of cloned Vipers, as a means of control. Same as in the Troopers and Captains, to give them a direct link."

"You mean they are linked directly to the network?"

"Yeah, exactly." Kassara confirmed, taking over from me. "And you know the gene therapy clinics?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know of anyone who went there that you knew? Anyone you never saw again?"

"There was one guy at my workplace, but I was told he quit. Seriously, you're scaring me now." She began to become more apprehensive as she listened to us.

"They kidnap and kill those humans, they refine them at hidden facilities into some sort of liquid. Though we don't know what it's used for yet." She explained carefully, Ash shaking her head the entire way through - either not wanting to hear or disagreeing entirely.

"You're just repeating conspiracy theories. The gene clinics are there to remove genetic imperfections in the human race to allow them to get rid of genetic diseases, the same as they've done with every race. Look, the chip thing rings a bell. I saw something about them in relation to the Advent militia, but people would have noticed if people were going missing, that's just stupid."

"I thought the same thing, Ash. I used to be a guard, for 20 years working for Advent. I saw the footage as the soldiers of X-Com attacked the facility and found the carcasses of the humans, in green tubes, lining the walls, everywhere. " She continued to persuade her. I felt like Kassara was going to have more luck getting through to Ash, due to them both being Vipers.

"Do you still have that footage with you? Otherwise there's no proof for it." She retorted softly, wanting the evidence for herself. It sounded like she believed it could be possible, she just needed the extra evidence for it.

"It should be on the Avenger, yes. We'd have to ask to see if you can come on board specifically to see the footage, though." I answered for Kassara. I understood her doubts; you can't just believe something on somebody telling you. And they did sound fairly extraordinary - they weren't easy to believe just by hearing them. She seemed to fall into a slight silence, thinking about what was just said, taking it all in as we continued to walk along. We shouldn't be too far away from our camp now, if I had timed it correctly.

"And you fight for the freedom of all of us? Vipers? Mutons? Sectoids? Andromedons? Archons?" She quizzed. She still held herself somewhat timidly, but her question was terrifying nonetheless. Who did we fight for? Humans or aliens?

"We fight to free them from the control of the Elders and Advent, humans and aliens alike. I can't speak for what will happen afterwards, but the ideal scenario is that all races can work together to rebuild this planet. The way things are at the moment, though… the different races don't even get along with each other, let alone with humans. Although that's just from what I've seen as a guard. If we can get the aliens working together with humans through groups like The Liberated, the possibility of a future for all of us seems plausible." Kassara said confidently.

I again found myself hesitating, just thinking about most of the people on board the Avenger, the Reapers included. They saw aliens as the enemy. They signed up to free humanity, but didn't really consider that the aliens that walked the Earth weren't part of the people oppressing the human race. But how much would we extend our umbrella? Would that encompass those shapeshifting monsters we saw at the resistance camps?

"I... I see what you mean. I don't recall seeing many aliens talking with humans where I worked." She nodded slowly, understanding the issue Kassara was trying to get at. "It was mostly Vipers, though we had some Advent personnel on site as well. The few humans there just kept to themselves. And... I uh, didn't get out much in the town much, so I wouldn't know about the rest. I kind of just kept to myself."

"Yeah, I'm guilty of doing the same, I guess." Kassara shrugged, half-hissing her amusement at Ash. "But yes, just wanted to make sure we weren't… on bad terms, or anything, and that you understand we aren't just 'terrorists', as people like to call us."

Ash returned her smile to Kassara, the very viper-ish grin I had seen so much of over the past couple of days, her stature slightly more relaxed than earlier. Up close, her color and patterning were even more alluring: it was just so uncommon to see. I didn't get to see much of Kassara's patterns, however, as the new armor covered most of it up from the back. I could imagine that if all the Vipers had this armor on it would become a little harder to identify them.

"Thank you, both of you. Sorry about what I said...It's just I-" Ash started.

"It's not a problem, don't worry." I interrupted, saving her the rest of her apology. "As long as Ava didn't make you too scared about what we do, then we should be fine." I grinned, watching her return an attempt at a smile back briefly. Well, at least that went a lot better than I had expected going into it. We shouldn't be much further from camp now, where we would have to tell Athissa what happened, and report our success.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 08:44 EST, 05/12/2035)

The camp seemed a little quieter than I would have imagined, remembering to how many aliens I had seen walking from the previous site to the new one, but the camp seemed fairly unpopulated, other than the numerous tents set up around the place indicating the opposite. We had had to walk around the entire fairground structure to get around to the entrance to enter the compound, so we were currently passing more tents, and broken rides, making our way to Athissa's tent, which Ethera was directing us towards, saying she knew where it was. We didn't have much to report, any one of us could have just gone alone with Ash and tell her the mission went off without a hitch, apart from the fact that the Hunter ambushed us during _our_ ambush. He could have been tracking us all the way from this camp… or followed us back here. After such a short time, they would have to move already, unless they wanted to risk someone else being sniped.

We passed by some groups of sectoids and mutons around the place on the way, their eyes wandering up towards our group, though I did not know whether it was because of the presence of Ash, or of Zero. The stares seemed almost as judgmental as the looks I had picked up on before. I glanced back towards Ash, she was too busy looking around at the camp to notice the other aliens particularly, as she perused the old broken rides that littered our surroundings, with lines of tents almost providing a barrier to outline where the main camp was set up.

"Welcome to The Liberated, Ash." Ava announced, also noticing her interest. "It might not look like much at the moment, but there are many of us that travel these parts trying to evade the Elders, whilst doing what we can to slow them down. Some of the others that live here are probably off on missions to disrupt Advent right now, since we have only just set up. Athissa will be eager to see you here"

"Are we going to see her now then?"

"Yes, she'll be wanting to hear from all of us, I would expect. Her tent is just up ahead, she should be in there." Hettie answered for Ava, moving slightly ahead of the group as we approached the noticeably solitary, and slightly larger green tent that Zero and I had slept in a couple of nights before. Hettie didn't give any indication to whoever was inside, she just slithered right up to the front of the tent and pulled back the entrance, revealing to all of us the huddled form of a Viper on the floor, in front of several sheets of paper that she seemed to be studying. Upon the light entering the tent from behind, Athissa whipped around to see us, her eyes falling onto and past all of us, searching for the one Viper she didn't know in the group.

"Ash?" She asked, her voice sounded excited, as she sprang up from the floor, completely disregarding that her movement flicked some of the sheets near her, jumbling them up with the other pieces that were scrambled about. They seemed to be documents she was reading through, maybe with all the information they have either collected or stolen. "Amazing, it actually worked, our first real mission to take action against Advent, and it worked!"

"Yes, that's me. It's great to meet you in person, Athissa" Ash nodded, Ethie moving out of Athissa's way so she could approach the grey Viper. Athissa extended her arm to shake her hand, Ash reciprocating the gesture happily. "I'll be honest, I wasn't really expecting a rescue, I thought I'd messed it up too much for me to be saved. You didn't send your best out to get me, did you?"

"They are pretty much the best we have, yes, with the help of X-Com, who I'm sure you've met." She nodded, as Ash seemed to be fidgeting slightly with her fangs, maybe doing what I have caught myself doing occasionally, where I itch the inside of my lower lip with my fang. "So you tried to get behind those files you told me about in the message you left for us? I'll be honest, I didn't think you had convinced yourself that it was what you were going to do, I appreciate the extra effort you went to though. I hope it was worth the hassle in the end, what did you find?"

"I couldn't get behind most of them, because it tripped the alarm on the entire place. But I found a bunch of projects hidden behind the first encryption algorithm. The Viper Matriarch is behind a few of the Advent funded military projects, by the looks of it, mostly to do with the Vipers, as far as I'm aware. Some sort of genetic upgrades to the Viper militia is the one I could find, but the other projects are all encrypted further, I could only see that they were proposals from the Matriarch." She recounted again. She took a moment, before opening her mouth, her tongue delicately placing a saliva covered blue item in her hand. "Do you have a cloth?"

Zero reached out his hand to take it from her, which she hesitantly gave it over, with a small nod from Athissa convincing her it was okay. He quickly wiped it off on his shirt, leaving a slight wet mark near the hemline at the bottom. I inspected the blue object Zero held in his hands briefly before he gave it back to Ash. it seemed to have a detachable end piece which he didn't remove himself, but it was no bigger than the size of my thumb, and fairly thin.

"You kept that in your mouth?" Astrith asked incredulously, almost laughing as she spoke. "How did they not find that on you? And why didn't you take it out earlier?"

"You guys were always looking at me, there wasn't a time at which I couldn't have taken it out with being noticed!" She quickly answered back to Astrith, taking the item from my hands. I hadn't seen an item like that, I don't think anyway, it rang a very small bell, but it wasn't anything I could put my finger on. "Plus, no Advent Trooper really wants to go looking in a Viper's mouth, the teeth are a little off-putting, I would think." She reasoned, settling down a little from her initial outburst. She pulled the end piece off the small blue stick, revealing a metal port on that was covered previously. This must have been how she communicated with Athissa, leaving these in places to allow data transfer, if I had to guess. It looked like it would be used for data storage, anyway.

"The Matriarch herself, huh..." Athissa mumbled, taking the drive from Ash, twisting the piece over between her fingers. "Good work, Ash. This may be vital information for us to see what Advent wants to throw at us, getting our hands on it gives us a serious head start against Advent." She turned to me and Zero, holding up the drive between her fingers. "I suppose you two will want a copy to give to your Commander?"

"Yes, any information against Advent will always help." Zero answered, not giving it a second thought. Immediately I could see the consequences of this mission, if what I had heard from Ash was correct, this entire drive did only one thing; incriminate my Matriarch. X-Com already had enough reasons to target my mother, the idea of giving them the means to increase what was effectively a bounty on her head made my stomach turn. I knew that she was the enemy, I knew that she needed to be taken down...but that didn't make the thought any easier. The rationality of it did nothing to appease how I felt, even if I knew it was the right action to take.

"I mean, if Ash is happy passing on the information to X-Com. I understand if she would prefer to withhold what you have." I quickly added on to Zero's response. Zero seemed to nod in agreement, passing the baton back over to Ash. Athissa turned to Ash, who glanced between us and the drive Athissa still held up for us to see. She seemed to take a breath as she reasoned with herself, before nodding.

"Yes, they deserve the information too. It's fair." Ash agreed. I must admit, I kind of thought that she wouldn't be happy passing over what she worked so hard to do for The Liberated – especially over to a terrorist organization - so quickly, but I suppose between Zero and myself, we did a fairly good job at selling X-Com. It was much better that she knew who we actually were, than what Advent painted us to be, especially if it meant she liked us more.

"Fantastic. Hettie, can you go see if they have put up our radio equipment yet? It should be just past the food tent, near the broken ride that reads 'Anaconda' on the side. Get a message on the preset frequency out to signal to X-Com that their operatives are ready to be picked up." Athissa ordered, turning around to place the drive down in her tent. Thankfully she placed it off to the side and not in the main mess of paper that was strewn all over the place.

"It's like having your mom call you cause you missed the bus at school." Zero said under his breath, only really loud enough for me to hear. "'Could you call his mother, he needs to be picked up!'" He put on a slight voice, as if he was attempting to mimic a female of his species, a small smile splitting across his face. I found myself confused at what he was talking about, I knew all the words he said but the combination he put them in didn't particularly mean anything to me.

"What?" I asked, lowering my voice to a similar level so only he could hear me.

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

"...Nothing, never mind." He said with a sigh, dismissing it and looking away sheepishly. I couldn't help but smile at his embarrassment. It was endearing, I suppose that would be the best way to describe it. I saw Ash giving us a couple of glances, one of interest I believe, but quickly turned her gaze as soon as she spotted me looking at her.

While Zero had been talking to himself, Athissa turned towards Ethera to get the debrief of what had happened. "So, how did the mission itself go? Were there any difficulties? Was the small safehouse a good location?"

"The mission went off without a hitch. We stopped the convoy and eliminated the defenses without a casualty, then freed the target. The location we stayed in is empty and provides good shelter but isn't secure from the inside. It would probably be good to use as a camp location." Ethera outlined, skimming over the questions Athissa had asked of her. "We ran into the Hunter during the mission, though. He took a shot at Zero but didn't engage otherwise after Kassara hit him with a shot in return."

"The Hunter was there? The Sniper?" Athissa immediately questioned, almost ignoring the rest of the brief that Ethie had just given. "Shit...he may have followed you back here... we've only just arrived, we can't move yet." She cursed, lowering her voice slightly as if talking to herself. The rest of us stood silent as she started to pace side to side just outside the front of the tent. "I've sent our squads out on missions, we simply can't move camp. Do you think he followed you from here earlier?" She turned towards us, searching among us for an answer.

"I don't think he followed us from this camp, otherwise he probably would have attacked us at the location we stayed at." I answered. Silence from everyone else. "He said that he was aware of our plan to attack the convoy, he was probably just waiting for us there"

"How did you find him there? He usually takes his shots at unsuspecting targets, he doesn't miss" Athissa asked, panic seeming to rise in her voice. I could see her breathing become much more erratic from where I stood. She feared this being with her entire soul, it was so painfully obvious how much he must have plagued her.

"He announced his shot," Zero responded. "Over our radios," He plucked the radio from his belt to show to Athissa, as if he was almost presenting evidence to her. "He was playing with us, it was a game to him..."

I watched as Athissa shuddered in response, turning back around, her hands itching the scales on the side of her hood. I knew the feeling personally, though it was difficult to explain. Lightly scratching over scales was quite mildly pleasurable, for me, maybe enough to send a shiver along my tail, but I was just a little bit more sensitive along the edges of the hood. However, Athissa seemed to have it as a sort of panic reaction, maybe it was a way for her to soothe herself. I felt bad for her, she seemed to be trawling over the options available to her.

"How was he already there...why did he know..." She kept asking herself. "What will he do...why was he there..."

"Athissa," Zero interjected her thinking, making her turn towards him. Her red eyes did seem to be verging on panicked, the slit pupils somewhat constricted indicating her fear. "Do you think he was after Ash? He left us alone only after Kassara was able to shoot him before he properly engaged us"

She seemed to pause, freeze up completely, statuesque, as she stared at Zero, snapping to Ash briefly, before nodding slowly, becoming more fluid once again. "You're right...He could have been...she's important to Advent, she knows their secrets. We're sitting ducks here. Ash, you have to go with X-Com, there's not really any other option" She ordered, turning back to Ash. Ash immediately shook her head vehemently, protesting the decision,

"Athissa, I didn't leave Advent to join with a terrorist organization! I want to help The Liberated, I want to be one of the free vipers!" She argued.

"I'm sorry," She sighed, her voice still managing to break slightly as she spoke. "I don't have any other option, Ash. I can't risk losing you after we have gone through a significant effort to rescue you."

"If we lose you as well, we will have lost two vipers for no gain" Ethera commented. I could see Zero purse his lips at the comment, but he kept his silence, he knew she didn't mean it in that way, she was trying to argue for his point of view as it was.

"Athissa, you can't make me!" Ash protested once more. I swear I could start to see tears forming in her red eyes, they were starting to look more moist than usual, her hands forming fists at her side as she retorted to Athissa. "I can be so much help here, I've done everything I have for you and The Liberated here! I'm not going to go fight for X-Com, I'm not going to murder other aliens!" Athissa brought her hands up to her own mouth, she was fighting against her own thoughts, you could just about tell, but she had already made up her mind, and the lack of panic that she had been in mere minutes ago only indicated that.

"Look, Ash, at least until I think it's safe...I don't think I can have you here with me in good conscience. I'm sure X-Com will allow you to stay on board with them, you wouldn't have to fight."

"You know, we might actually have somewhere on board that you can provide a great deal of assistance. We have an Engineer on board that is constantly working and just making new things to help us. You have a solid background in technology, you could probably design and create a bunch of things whilst you are on board." I encouraged, presenting the case to Ash, but she wouldn't hear any of it, not even turning to me to dismiss what I had suggested, but still trying to convince Athissa that she was making a mistake.

"I'm not making weapons for terrorists, I might as well be killing the aliens they shoot."

"Athissa," Ava interrupted, dragging her attention away from the rest of us deliberately by grabbing Athissa's arm with her hand lightly. "X-Com have already killed one of us, and you're going to send off a valuable asset and viper to the same people that murdered Raina. I can't believe you are happy giving her into the possession of the likes of them." She jammed her arm in Zero's direction, her clawed finger outstretched towards him.

"Ava!" Astrith exclaimed at her outburst. "Why would you say that!"

I turned to Zero, his brows furrowed together, his bottom lip quivering with the anger so evident on the rest of his face, I could tell how much he had clenched his jaw just from looking at it. I thought for a second that he was going to lash back out at Ava, like grab her arm and remove it from in front of his face, or punch her, or shout her down completely, I was ready to step in to prevent it. But he didn't move forward at all. He simply turned around, breaking the eye contact he had held with Ava, and stormed off briskly, going around of the tent to go out of sight of the rest of us.

"Zero!" I called after him, the rest of the vipers around me standing in silence. I quickly darted around the tent, but he was still walking away at a decent speed. "Zero!" I called back once more, but he didn't even turn to look at me. I could go to him, he needed me to be there...but if I left then I could be letting Ash take the option that Athissa knew was the wrong one. I let myself have one last look at the retreating figure of Zero, before I went back around to the front of the tent, watching the 5 Vipers look back at me silently, a cocky viper-like smirk playing upon Ava's face, Astrith showed remorse, though I couldn't really peg the others.

"It had to be said" Ava shrugged, the only one willing to break the silence.

"Shut up, Ava" I hissed back. "Just...why did you even say it? You know as much as everyone here that Zero has tried to repent for what was a complete mistake, and holding it over his head for the sake of it is the shittiest thing you could do!"

"You can't just forget that it happened, Kassara, I can't forget about what he did" She shot back, holding her ground. I could feel my own anger rising at her, at her complete lack of empathy, she knew exactly what she was doing.

"It's completely unnecessary and you're just saying it to upset him!" I hissed at her, jabbing my finger in her direction. "You should be ashamed. You are ruining one of the best opportunities we have at taking down the Elders, at achieving what we want! All of you!"

"We didn't say anything Kassara." Ethera protested quickly, whilst Athissa stood silent, almost part of the background, Astrith and Ash also looking on.

"You did, just less than a minute ago!"

"I didn't!"

"All of you play your own part at doing your best to isolate humans from the Liberated, you cling onto these preconceptions about humans and take it out on those that want to help, that want to be a part of what you stand for, you resent them, you hate the fact that they are here, to you, they are the problem. To you, humans are another obstacle between you and your freedoms, and nothing could be more of a lie!"

"Kassara, calm down, please" Athissa asked, she tried to stay measured, her voice even and rational. But I wasn't going to let her silence me, they needed to hear it.

"You blame them for everything, you treat them like they have half the worth you do, and you wonder why they don't ever stay, you wonder why you have such a small number of humans here! You want to paint yourselves as the most righteous people here, fighting for the freedom of all races, except you don't fight for the freedom of humans! You say you do, but it's merely a byproduct to you, isn't it? You're just as Xenophobic to the humans as some of the most radical humans are to aliens, except you don't have the excuse that they took over your planet! You hide these opinions away but it's so obvious that's how you feel. Raina is just an excuse to you, an excuse to say that humans are evil, that X-Com is evil. You use her death to attack those who put their lives on the line to help you. I thought it would be amazing meeting other vipers who fought against Advent, where before I had thought I was the only one. All I can say now is I'm disgusted. Disgusted that I share the same DNA as you."

"Oh, you suddenly decide this now, huh?!" Ava raised her voice back at me. "Stop being the humans' bitch, stop arguing for them just because you feel you have to stick up for your boyfriend. You can't sweep a death under the rug, he just doesn't want to have to deal with the fact that he killed someone."

"He's not my boyfriend, I don't even like him!" I shouted back, she's bringing this up as if it's some sort of defense for her shitty actions. I could feel the blood rushing to my face, I could feel my claws digging in between my scales; I embraced it. I approached Ava, watching her back away slightly as I closed the distance. Astrith obviously saw it as aggression and placed herself in between us, so I leaned around, pointing my finger at Ava. "You, you especially are the most bigoted viper I have ever come across, you are just as bad as, if not worse than the vipers that willingly serve the Elders regardless of the atrocities they are forced to commit. Do you really want to be the reason X-Com and the Liberated don't work together? You would rather sever the only way you have to actually fight back because of an accident that we have done nothing but repent for? You call yourself free, but you still believe everything you learned in Advent, and you refuse to learn anything else. The humans I have met in X-Com are among the most extreme, the entire organization is based on killing Advent and aliens, but I've been shown more respect by even the people who hate me the most on board the Avenger, than any of you have shown Zero over the time we've been here."

"Kassara, I apologize for what Ava said, it was out of order. You know I want X-Com and the Liberated to work together, we need each other, especially now." Athissa moved forward, placing her hand on my shoulder greave, as the other vipers remained in stunned silence behind her. "I really appreciate that both of you have put in so much for our sake, regardless of why. Let's just calm this down, you're not going to change her mind." She said softly. I moved my shoulder away from her hand, letting it drop from me, not listening to her words.

"You all need to prove you can work alongside humans. If Advent go down, regardless of who does it, the people left in their wake will need to learn to work together. This is their planet, not ours, there are more of them than there are us. Because from what I've seen here, you can barely live with the other alien races, and definitely not the humans. Are you with Advent, or against them? Are you with the Elders, or are you fucking against them" I finished, not once taking my eyes of Ava, who now stood silent, staring back at me in contempt.

"I'm going to find Zero" I announced, turning away, and heading behind the tent, not wanting to look at those four any longer. My heart was beating so rapidly, my chest was pumping in and out quickly, I could feel my anger subsiding slowly, as my thoughts shifted from the rush of thoughts I hadn't really even had time to process before I said them, and now all I could think of is that I needed to find Zero.

* * *

(Sergeant 'Zero', 09:13 EST, 05/12/2035)

"Zero, thank god I found you."

I slowly opened my eyes, raising my head from the steel bar my head had been lying on, sitting up in the ride carriage I was sat in, and turned to face the voice that had called my name. Kassara made her way slowly over to the ride I was in, waiting outside the carriage, leaning slightly towards me. She looked a tiny bit flustered herself, and I found myself checking over her armor and the scales to see if I could see any scuffs, or marks, thinking for a second she had been in a fight because of me. But she seemed to be okay, just a little worked up.

"Are you okay?" She asked, the concern obvious from her tone. No, I wasn't okay. It didn't really matter what I did, I could have saved the entire camp, and the label murderer would still be placed upon me by the vipers. I regret what I did, and I know it was an accident...but it ate away at me every time I was reminded of my actions.

"I don't want to talk about it," I murmured back, letting out a long sigh, swallowing away saliva that wouldn't leave my mouth. "What did you do?" I asked back, but she turned her head away from me, looking off to the side, as if considering it was worth me knowing.

"I...I don't think I want to talk about it either," She grimaced. "I may have just fucked any chance of us working together with the Liberated. So, sorry, if it comes to that." She paused, as if deciding whether or not to do what she planned, but she decided quickly enough. She moved herself into the carriage, pushing away the steel bar for a brief second so she could get in, settling in the space next to me, her coils spilling over the floor of the ride, taking up what little free room there was. I kept my silence as I saw her adjust herself briefly, before reaching up to her hood, peeling away the armor that covered her neck, covered her shoulders and arms, revealing her chevron pattern once more to the open air. She dropped all the pieces outside of the carriage, before leaning over, settling the back of her hood against my shoulder, so the very top of her head was just to the side of my neck.

"I just want to go home. Back to the Avenger," She muttered back to me, her voice rasping somewhat as she spoke, as she pushed the top of her head into my neck, her hood obscuring her face to me. "I'm done being here."

I let my arm fall around Kassara's shoulder, pulling her into me slightly more, enjoying the contact and the small amount of solace that it gave. But there were more thoughts going on in my head, more thoughts about Kassara. I knew I shouldn't be having them, they were not good thoughts to have about this, but my mind decided to bother me with them anyway. The question once again bothered me, the small voice that said that this was how it was supposed to be, that this was fine, that it didn't matter that she was a Viper, that we could make it work. This wasn't the first time it had come up, but this is the first time I've listened to this voice. I know I said that I didn't see her in that way...but maybe a part of me wanted to try, wanted to make it work. I sat in silence, letting the thought stir in my mind, brooding as I could feel Kassara sink slightly further into me. It didn't matter that she was an alien, it mattered that I admired her for who she was.

"Hey, Kassara?"

"What is it?" She responded softly, her head shifting slightly upon having to answer me. I became more conscious of my breathing, she could feel me, was I giving it away? My usual doubts started to slowly surface again, more and more. She said it herself, she didn't like me in that way. She had no reason to say that if it wasn't the case, this was just me being stupid. I know my emotions were running a little high at the moment...but something just felt right, having her here with me, holding her against me.

"I...I think we should head back," I sighed, my mouth so close to uttering one of the numerous lines that had sped past my tongue, so close to taking that first step forward, but ultimately failing. It was for the best. It wouldn't work. I shouldn't have thought of it. Kassara shifted on me slightly before she pushed herself off of me, getting back out of the carriage and onto the dusty ground, her tail sliding out after her, before I could leave. She started putting her armor back on as I got out myself, though I still had to wait for her to finish attaching the pieces before we left.

"Yeah, the Skyranger should be here shortly, I'm sure Bradford or the Commander would like to find out what's happened." She commented as we began to make our way back over to the camp. As we approached the back of Athissa's tent, a light humming filled the air around us, as overhead the figure of the Skyranger flew past, blotting out the sun momentarily. The engine was deceptively quiet, the small whirring noises slowing down to a halt as it set down further into the camp. Kassara and I increased our pace, walking back past Athissa's tent, and back towards the entrance of the compound, where the ship had set down.

When we arrived, there was already a small crowd of aliens by the Skyranger. Athissa stood to one side, glancing over towards us. I could see the other vipers behind her, excluding Ava, waiting for the ramp to open. Athissa turned towards Ash, grabbing her attention with a nudge on the arm, pointing over towards us. Ash quickly made her way over, pushing her way around a couple of mutons to do so.

"Kassara!" She called, waving her arm in the air.

"Ash, hey. I'm sorry about earlier, really, I didn't mean to flip like I did." Kassara immediately apologized, giving a small wave back as the grey viper came to a halt.

"Don't be, you were right," She shook her head, dismissing her concern. She began to fidget slightly, her fingers tracing along her claws. "I want to be part of X-Com. I want to help."

"You don't want to see the footage first so you at least know we weren't having you on?" I interjected, giving a slight smile to the potential new recruit.

"I mean, I want to, yes, but I believe you." She answered quickly, turning her attention back towards Kassara. "I don't want to be another viper like Ava, you were completely right that I don't see humans as the same as vipers. I just...didn't realize until you said it. And once you said it, it sounded stupid."

"Then I hope the Commander will have you, it'll be nice to have someone new on board." Kassara said with a nod of her head. I turned my attention back towards the now open ramp of the Skyranger, as four soldiers filtered out: Brick, Twitch, Firehawk and Vandal, with a fifth behind them. I don't think I had really seen him before on the ship, but I knew who it was the moment he stepped out from the interior of the ship, and the shadows uncloaked him, revealing firstly the black trousers he wore, then his green sweater, then finally his face. This was The Commander, the person who ran X-Com. He was of a medium build, with short brown hair, his face looked weary, though if I was to guess it looked more like lack of sleep than anything else.

"Athissa, right?" He asked, his voice not as hoarse as I was expecting, at least not in comparison to Bradford's, who talked like a grizzled war veteran. He stepped down the ramp, passing the four soldiers that waited at the bottom, who were all looking around at the congregating aliens. Athissa stood forwards, going to meet the Commander, no other viper at her side as she approached him.

"Commander, it's a pleasure to meet in person. I want to thank you for allowing us to use the skills of your soldiers to help us complete what would have been a risky and delicate mission without them." She responding, bowing slightly towards him. I withheld the slight laughter building up inside of me at how well she was treating him, considering the last time he would have seen her she was nowhere near as composed. Though I suppose that would be why she was acting as she was right now.

"I'm happy they could help." He said, scanning the crowd in front of him briefly until he spotted us. "I-"

"Commander," She interrupted, earning the glances of the four soldiers stood in front of her. She immediately placed both hands in front of her, the interruption obviously an accidental one. "Sorry, sorry, just...I have something to ask of you. A couple of things. I understand if these aren't requests you can fulfill, but please hear me out." She said, pausing at the end, waiting for his confirmation. He simply gave a small nod, allowing her to continue.

"The viper we rescued, Ash, is not a soldier, but I'm asking if you can take her on your ship. She would be able to help with your technology onboard, but she can't stay here, I think she may be the target of the Hunter."

"Hunter? The third chosen?" The Commander immediately responded, as if forgetting Athissa's request. "Do you have any information you can pass on about him? Anything helps"

"I can send you the information we have on him over transmission, although we don't have an awful amount on him. We know he's a sniper, he tracks us as we move. He appeared at the location we chose to ambush the convoy Ash was being transported in, I believe that she is his target. Please, she's at too much risk here."

"Of course, yes, I'd be happy to have her with us. I'm sure our Engineer would be happy to have some company and an extra helping hand" He assured. Athissa looked back over towards where we were standing, beckoning Ash over to her. Ash gave a small glance back at us, hesitating for a brief moment, her tail tip twitching again. I gave a small nudge to Kassara, nodding my head in the direction of Athissa and the Commander before I myself headed towards the Skyranger, both vipers in tow behind me. As we approached the ship, Brick noticed me coming forward, dropping her canon to her side, splitting a grin across her face as she gave her signature two-fingered salute, which I returned.

"And Commander, a second request." Athissa continued, turning his attention back away from Ash. "I have seen the equipment Kassara has been using, the rifle and the armor, the technology is so much more advanced than the equipment we have. If it were possible to be able to get some of this equipment for ourselves, we could actually take the fight to Advent, maybe even defend ourselves against the Hunter. If we end up stronger, we can be of more use to you." She reasoned, pitching forward her idea, though the disapproving grimace of the Commander told us his answer before he said it himself.

"There's no way I can use our supplies on helping to upgrade the equipment of resistance groups. There's too many groups that could all use better equipment." He denied, shaking his head slowly.

"Well, what if we made it worthwhile?" She persisted. "Payment for the equipment."

The Commander remained silent for a moment, bringing his hand up to his chin, scratching it in thought.

"What kind of payment are you talking about?" He finally asked

"We are some of the best infiltrators you will find, we can go in and out of their cities with relative ease. I'm sure you could find some use for us alongside your missions?" She offered. The Commander returned to his silence, brooding on the request.

"Intel, we can help get information, we have an abundance of food, whatever we can offer. We can actually stand a chance at doing more than just sneaking around, constantly running." She continued, her desperation slipping into her demeanor, her body becoming more animated as she pleaded with him.

"How much do you need?" He said, cutting straight to the point. Athissa's face seemed to light up briefly before she recomposed herself.

"About 20 sets of armor and weapons. Though I understand if this can't be completed all in one go, whatever we are able to get I will be thankful for, Commander." She responded, giving another small bow towards the Commander as she finished. The Commander glanced over to me, his eyes looking straight into mine. This was the man that I followed, this was the man that I was trusting to lead us to a better future. This moment was somehow both underwhelming and overwhelming in their own ways, but I felt more comfortable knowing I could put a face to my own organization.

"I will sort out the details with you over your communications, Athissa. I think you are right in that they will help increase your effectiveness." He addressed Athissa first, walking away from the ship further, nodding to Brick as he passed her, his command resulting in the four soldiers retreating back into the Skyranger, leaving him out on his own. He walked out towards us, standing to attention just a few meters away. "Come on back onboard, soldiers. And welcome to X-Com, Ash" He smiled, it was a rugged one, but warm nonetheless. He stood to the side, allowing Kassara and I to pass by, and enter into the Skyranger ourselves. I saw Kassara glancing over to the vipers we were now leaving behind, and I followed her gaze to them. Athissa gave a small nod in our direction, not that I understood what the nod was for, but Kassara returned it regardless, before giving her own unrequited wave back at the group of vipers. The Commander extended his hand to the grey viper, who slowly reached out to take his hand, the uncertainty she had evident on her face. The Commander didn't even look back towards us as he headed back to the front of the ship; he must be in the cockpit with the pilot. I took one glance back at the rundown fairground The Liberated currently called their home, one last glance back at the new people I had met, and will probably never see again, before we headed up the ramp and into the ship. Good riddance.

* * *

 _AN: A quick note to say thank you to Leviathan54 for helping out with a couple of ideas for this chapter, and a huge thanks to Roxirin for helping edit the chapter for me._


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

(Lieutenant 'Kassara', 09:27 EST, 05/12/2035, Location: Unknown)

Zero and I lead Ash onto the ramp of the Skyranger, all eyes piercing past us at the oddly colored viper we had in tow, everyone unashamedly staring at her as we took our seats, Brick the first to inquire about her.

"So, Ash, right?" She asked, drawing Ash's attention to herself. "Pretty name for a viper. I'm Brick, nice to meet you." She extended a hand out to the viper sat diagonally from her. Ash was uncertain about the gesture, glancing over towards me almost for approval, before she returned the handshake. Her claws wrapped around Brick's hand gently, immediately crushed by Brick's stronger grip; I could see the tension across her scales. Brick wore the same disarming grin she always did, she was obviously in a good mood. I could see the other three soldiers occasionally stealing glances towards Zero and me out of my peripherals, but their main focus was definitely on Ash.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Brick. You have a nice name for a human, too." She complimented back, after a small hesitation, possibly at how unexpectedly friendly Brick's initial demeanor was towards her.

"It's not supposed to be a 'nice' name for a human, as such, but thanks I guess anyway," Brick heartily dismissed. I could see Ash visibly cringe at herself for her own words, she really didn't have much experience talking to humans. "Either way, these guys are Twitch, Firehawk, and Vandal. You're the newest recruit after Twitch, so I'm sure he will enjoy you being here." Ash proceeded to make a small nod at each of the individual soldiers, receiving one in return from each of them, the formalities out of the way. I'm sure that she would have to repeat her life story for all of them at some point, but I was hoping Brick would give her a bit of space to breath.

"And you guys!" She started, turning to me and Zero, as if I had said my thoughts aloud to her. "It's good to see you again! I was worried something had happened."

"It's great to be back, I'll be honest. I didn't want to spend another day there." He sighed. "It's better than when I returned from the mission with Elena. I was dreading returning from that, really."

"Oh, how come?" Twitch interjected. I saw Zero pause briefly, and I realized that he had accidentally said his last sentence, for a very specific reason. He quickly came up with an excuse, laughing it off slightly.

"Ah, I was just concerned that Elena and Kassara would go back to fighting. I think Elena's learning to play nice and get along though, I didn't have that much to worry about, evidently."

My thoughts returned to that dreadful week without him. The fateful night after the party, in which my drunk self-decided to believe that I liked him in that special way, which resulted in him not talking to me before he left for the mission. The awful week to follow, in which my heart felt like it physically ached at the possible loss of my best friend, the one who had cared for me so much, cared for someone who would have killed him if given the opportunity. I didn't deserve him as it was, and I almost threw it away right there and then. I had to stop myself shuddering at remembering those thoughts in fear of giving anything away to the others.

I caught Brick glancing at me out of the side of her eye, her attention snapping back to Twitch once more after our eyes met for a brief split-second, she also knew what Zero was about to spill to everyone if he hadn't managed to cover it up. I hate that Brick had to see me as I was, crying into my own coils. I was so pathetic. New fears suddenly began to wash over me, of whether Echo had told anybody of what had happened between me and Zero yet, I hadn't given her any reason to keep it a secret. I don't think she particularly liked me even. I just hope Brick was able to talk her out of telling people. I felt that familiar ache in my chest, remembering the feeling of losing Zero, as my eyes flitted back over his soft features, his eyes, his lips, reassuring me that he was still there for me. Of course he was, he accepted our little hug in the carriage of the ride earlier. Or was it a cuddle? He said a cuddle was a hug but for an extended period of time. We must have been there for a few minutes, 3 at the very least. Is that a cuddle? Or is that a hug? I don't care. I loved it, just as I did when he was sleeping against me. I'm glad I could rely on him as a friend so much, I needed him there and then.

The others returned to talking about the Hunter, the prospect of meeting the third warrior of the Elders seemed exciting to them. They asked Zero about him, as he recounted how he had dived at me to push me out of the way of a shot that he had announced, only to realize that the Sniper had prepared for such a move and only narrowly missed. He got me to tell them about my shot on the Sniper, listening excitedly along with the others as I explained how I lined him up in my scope, only leading him by a slight amount. I had to give credit to Shen, I don't think I could have made that shot with any other weapon, not any that I had seen before, anyway. Even Ash seemed interested at my recollection of the events. I hoped that she would fit in well enough here, with the few soldiers on board that would show her their worse sides, I could see her having the same sort of troubles I did, but with us here to help, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

As we landed, the ramp slowly opened to the hangar, the four soldiers standing up and filtering out first, before Ash, Zero, and I followed. Outside the ship stood two people I didn't expect to have been greeting us out here. Dr. Tygan stood waiting, hands behind his back, dressed in his lab coat. He was stood next to Dr. Shen, who had obviously come straight from Engineering, wearing her vest and bright orange sleeveless shirt. And then Bradford, who was much more expected than the others, waiting for us to step off the ship, waiting to debrief us, obviously. I wondered why the other two were here for a brief moment, but my mind quickly reminded me that it was probably because of the presence of another viper aboard the Avenger, it was the only reasonable answer, anyway.

"Amazing…it's almost like a form of leucism…" Dr. Shen pondered aloud as Ash made her down the ramp cautiously, the three authority figures joined by the Commander, each of them giving a small nod to him as he approached.

"I very much doubt it is anything of the sort, Doctor," Dr. Tygan dismissed fairly quickly. "It's more likely a rare scale pigmentation."

"Anyway, why did you call me up here, Commander?" Shen said, seeming to ignore Tygan's correction. She put her hands on her hips, waiting for the response.

"Shen, this is Ash. She'll be a new addition to X-Com, joining you down in Engineering. You've been needing another engineer for a while. Ash, this is Dr. Shen, Dr. Tygan, and Central Officer Bradford. You'll be seeing more of Shen than anyone else, but it would be good for you to know the other two." The Commander introduced the two parties, before turning to Ash. "Welcome to X-Com."

"I appreciate the extra help, Commander." She grinned, clasping her hands at the news, obviously excited. Although I wasn't sure whether it was because she got to work with another viper, or having more help downstairs.

"You'll need the extra help. The Liberated have requested 20 sets of the new armor and weapon you produced for Kassara. We'll spare what resources we can, allowing them to be able to fit more effectively can help us tenfold in the future." The Commander quickly explained. I expected to see Shen deflate with the added work, but she seemed even more pumped to get started.

"Right away Commander," Shen nodded. "I'll take her straight there"

"We should probably give her a short tour first. And I should make a preliminary check over her; check for any chips, any damage, that sort of thing." Dr Tygan quickly interjected before Shen could run away with the still silent Ash, who had been stood still just observing. Without verbal confirmation from the Commander, they both proceeded to walk out of the hangar, looking back towards Ash briefly, to let her know that she had to follow. She nervously glanced at me, before she made her way past Bradford, his gaze not following her, still settled on myself and Zero.

"Glad to see you both returning in one piece. Could you debrief us both on what happened whilst you were with The Liberated as we head to the command center?"

"Why the command center?" Zero questioned, watching as the group of four left the armory, passing back into the hangar briefly before leaving out of the door Ash, Tygan and Shen had just passed through.

"I need to talk to Kassara after the briefing. Alone." The Commander responded bluntly to him, taking both of us by surprise a little. I wonder what he could want to talk to me about? I suppose it was probably about Ash, maybe get me to follow her around for a bit similarly to how I had to stay with Brick when I first joined up with X-Com. Zero and I quickly headed to the armory to put away our weapons, and I took off the excess armor I didn't need, hanging it up alongside my gun.

So, we returned back out to the hangar, and followed the Commander and Bradford, leading the way to the command center. I allowed Zero to do most of the talking as we went on, he recalled all the mission details, talking a bit about the Hunter to his superiors, and securing Ash. I found myself letting my mind wander a little bit as he talked, his voice, though slightly jagged due to having to talk as he walked, was relaxing to listen to regardless.

It was odd knowing who the Commander was now. The only contact I had had with him in the past was him talking to me over comms to tell me not to disobey his or Bradford's command. He seemed so much less intimidating in person. Was this the man that pulled Goblin to the side when I first came here as a Peacekeeper? It's insane to think that just over a month ago I was a prisoner here. And I know who I have to thank for that not being the case anymore. I looked down towards Zero, a sudden warmth filling me from inside, just briefly, as I watched him continue to talk.

We approached the Command center, Bradford and the Commander both waiting outside, as Zero finished off the debrief, concluding with the data Ash said was on the data device she had held in her mouth.

"Thank you, Zero. And before I forget, both you and Kassara have earned yourselves a promotion. Zero, your Lieutenant's badge," Bradford quickly put his hand into the pocket of the vest he wore, pulling out two items, sifting through them quickly to give Zero the correct award. Zero held his hand out, somewhat tentatively, gazing in interest as the pin was dropped into his hands. "You will be learning 'Quickdraw', a skill which should hopefully allow you to have more utility on the battlefield. As for you, Viper," He said, not using the name in a mean way, but still not using my actual name. Maybe with Ash around on the ship, he would start learning to call me Kassara. "You've reached the rank of Captain. I'm sure Shen has already documented what training you should be doing now. And, congratulations." He gave a hidden smile as he handed me the new stripes and badges, not that I had used the previous ones on my armor; It's not like I could pin the badge anywhere.

I watched as Zero raised his hand in a salute to the Commander and Bradford, not one of the two-fingered salutes that I had seen him give to Brick, or to me. No, he used his whole hand in his salute, his feet clasping together as he bolted upright. It was not in a dissimilar fashion to how I had seen Advent Troopers salute, just with his hand in a different position. I followed his gesture, unsure of whether or not it was required of me, but the two officers seemed to accept it regardless.

"Dismissed, Zero. Kassara, follow me into the Command Center." The Commander ordered, turning with Bradford towards the room with the bright blue globe in it. I gave a short glance back to Zero, before he turned his heel and left, his eyes meeting mine briefly, as if giving me some sort of encouragement. I wonder why he wanted to talk to me alone? Had I done something wrong?

I entered the Command Center after the two humans in front of me, no alarms blaring with my entrance this time. The large holo-globe occupied the majority of the center of the room, several consoles dotted in a circle around it, and screens lighting up the walls of the room, each with operators studying them, typing away at the keyboards. The Commander led the way across the room, around the edge, to one of the larger monitors on the other side of the command center. With a simple nod to the operator waiting at the connected keyboards, the screen divided into four, a white line separating the four black boxes. I was confused about what the Commander was doing, he hadn't explained anything to me so far, and was just standing in silence. As I was about to speak up to ask him, the third panel lit up, the face of Geist appearing to us, his helmet removed, though still wearing his golden colored cloak. He seemed to be in a room alone, I could make out several of the little black orbs of light in the background. I remembered seeing them when we fought off Advent.

"Ah, my favorite Viper, and her commanding officer. It's good to hear from you again, Commander." He immediately welcomed. Before the Commander could respond, one of the other screens lit up, Athissa this time coming into view, though her screen wasn't clear, her quality seemed to be a lot lower than Geist's. On the first panel, a rugged man with long hair and a beard appeared, weapons in the background, with the head of Muton on the wall behind him. On the other, a being with a face similar to that of Mox's appeared, bright yellow eyes with disfigured human appearances, with her helmet on the table in front of her, two similarly dressed troops standing in the background, donning the white and red armor Mox did.

"A Viper? At X-Com?" The one I recognized as the Skirmisher spoke first, leaning in towards the screen a little more. "Mox had reported back that this was the case, but it was almost unthinkable to believe without seeing in person."

"As long as you're happy having the enemy around you, Commander." The man with the beard growled, though not in a threatening manner

"Please, ladies and gentleman. This is Kassara, the first viper to join X-Com ranks. She has proved herself valuable to our cause, she has given us no reason to doubt her intentions or her ability." The Commander quickly addressed, before raising his hands to each panel, introducing me to each leader in turn. "Kassara, the is Volk, leader of the Reapers. Betos, leader of the Skirmishers. And you've met Geist and Athissa, who lead the Templars and the Liberated respectively."

"So why am I here?" I asked, turning away from the four faces on the screen studying me.

"Because this is the four resistance groups, finally brought together. And I thought you deserved to hear the decisions we are going to make." He turned back to the leaders, all waiting for him to address them. "With the new information uncovered by the Liberated and supplied to X-Com, it has become apparent that there is an opportunity to cripple the Elder's plans and slow them down, and possibly stop the first of many projects that could contribute to our downfall. The viper Matriarch is behind several of the military projects Advent have been funding. We need to get rid of her before she can complete her plans."

"What?" I breathed, snapping back around to face him. He wasn't looking back, he knew what my reaction would be. If what Ash had said was correct, then she was a large wheel in the machine of Advent, she effectively controlled the viper race with her words alone. I could see why they would target her, and I knew that it was a good move for X-Com, but that didn't stop my thoughts bubbling from inside me, telling me to protest them killing my Matriarch. She was my species leader, my mother…I couldn't let her die without at least trying…right?

"And the vipers are happy with this being our first plan of action?" Volk laughed, his fist hitting the table. "Or is this the first they are hearing of this?"

"Athissa is aware, Kassara is not. Or is now, at least." The Commander quickly confirmed, as I still searched for my words behind him.

"It's a regrettable course of action, but a necessary one. She cannot be allowed to continue with her vision." Athissa quickly added, seeming to reassure Volk slightly more.

"I'll be the first to say I had my doubts about this alliance working, Commander. Fighting with the enemy isn't always the best idea…." Volk continued to stir the pot, I could see Athissa become slightly irked at his attitude, though she hid it well. Although the bad quality of the connection may have helped conceal this.

"Our vision needs to be a joint one, Volk," Geist stepped in. "You can only fight from the shadows for so long."

"They've served us well so far. As long as everyone is in agreement on what part they play, you won't hear many complaints from me." Volk commented, taking little heed to Geist. "It sounds like the Matriarch would be a good target for us to focus on first."

"She will answer for her crimes on this planet." Betos also added, voicing her agreement. My mind felt split in two, half agreeing wholeheartedly that this would set X-Com ahead, but I couldn't get rid of the thought making me want to defend her. Even with what I've seen of her, what she did to Zero in the prison, how she was when I spoke of her.

"How will we know where to get her?" I asked, from behind the Commander, who still remained facing the screen.

"Leave that to us." Betos nodded sharply, accepting the assignment. "We should be able to scout across the continent for information."

"My people will help you get close once we have the target." Volk quickly added, making sure not to be outdone so quickly. It was obvious that between the four resistance groups, they could achieve their plan quickly, with Geist offering up distractions to thin the guard, and Athissa promising infiltrator viper units that can help scout the location and provide extra firepower. Each group offered their strengths to X-Com, asking nothing in return, knowing they were all benefitting, getting closer to an end goal with the promises they made.

"What if we captured her?" I hesitantly asked after they had all allotted their resources to the project. Immediately, four different reactions showed on the screen. Intrigue from Geist, anger from Volk, hesitation from Betos, and what I would say as sympathy from Athissa. Not allowing any of them to make a comment, I tried to explain the situation, to make it sound like there was a good reason for what I was suggesting. "She's much more valuable alive. She has knowledge of a lot of things that we couldn't ever hope to get out hands on. Any of the information we can get from her would be worth the extra effort required to complete the task. It's not like we lack the resources that would make it possible. And then we can also use her as a bargaining chip, if it should ever come down to that." I paused after I sputtered out my statement. My breathing sounded completely audible to me, I could hear my heart hammering in my chest.

"It's an interesting concept, that is for certain," Geist was the first to speak. "If we were to achieve this, we would get everything we were aiming to get and more. If we are able to, why not?"

"It's too much risk. Commander, there is no need to push our limits and put our soldiers in more danger than they are already in." Betos argued.

"I can do it." I shot back, trying to act defiant, hold my ground.

"You trust a viper to be the one to take her own Matriarch hostage?" Volk questioned, his cynicism thick in his voice.

"Yes." The Commander answered, no hesitation, no time for thinking twice. "Yes, I do." This earned an eyebrow from Volk, but he didn't question him, the Commander's authority obviously respected enough by him.

"You know, Ash might be able to take down the psionic network in the area, it could help stop other troops being alerted when you attack. We have more than enough to complete this task, as daunting as it seems. We can always reevaluate at a later point." Athissa backed up, obviously preferring this option to the previous one, even if she tried to hide it. The Commander glanced back over his shoulder to me, I couldn't tell what he was thinking of me. Did he realize that at least part of me was against the plan of attacking my Matriarch? Or did he just think I had come up with a good plan? I couldn't tell, even with the practice I have had at reading human expressions, he was still one of the most enigmatic to me.

"Then it is sorted. Thank you for your help, Kassara. I hope my trust in you is well placed."

"I won't let you down." I heard myself automatically respond, without thinking twice. With another nod from the Commander, the monitor returned to a plain black screen. The Commander proceeded to walk back towards the entrance of the room, not looking back to see me follow him, though Bradford followed behind me, as if it were some sort of protocol. The Commander opened the door, standing to the side to let me pass by him and out of the room. I turned back to face him again, as he glanced towards Bradford, the central officer immediately recognizing what the man meant, leaving us alone.

"If you need to talk things through, you can always find me in my quarters. I appreciate it may be difficult for you to come to terms with it." He spoke, so much softer than I had heard him speak before, as if he was trying to comfort me.

"I'm fine, sir." I dismissed. It felt wrong to say that I had an issue with them hunting my Matriarch. It was almost a treasonous though. I know that it was the right thing to do, I didn't want the thoughts I had on the matter. But I don't think letting the Commander know I had my doubts was the best thing to do right now.

"Of course. Vigilo Confido, Kassara." He said, his voice returning to the more authoritative one that I was used to, before he turned, the door closing between us. I breathed out a sigh, not of relief, but as if trying to unburden the stress I could feel tightening across me. I couldn't turn back now. I should go find Brick, or Zero. Or go back to sleep for a bit, anything to take my mind away from this.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 12:02 EST, 05/12/2035, Location: Unknown)

Brick and I had headed down to Engineering together, under Brick's suggestion that we should go and make sure that the new Viper has someone to sit with for lunch. I hadn't seen much of Kassara since earlier this morning, since the meeting with the Commander. I hope everything was okay, I doubt he needed her for so long, anyway. I knocked twice on the door, before gently pushing it open, watching as Shen, one of the other engineers and Ash all stood around a workbench with what looked like a set of plans on it. They didn't seem to be making anything at the moment, but it certainly seemed like they were going to shortly, several tools in a small box on the side of the table. Shen looked back towards Ash, nodding her head in our direction. At the command, Ash left the table, heading over towards us, curiosity clear on her face.

"Hey, what do you need?" She greeted, approaching us at the door. I quickly glanced back up at Brick, before asking my question.

"Brick and I were wondering if you wanted to grab lunch with us in the canteen, and meet some of the other soldiers here?" I asked, just loud enough so Shen could probably hear what I was saying. Ash turned briefly back to Shen, who gave her the go ahead, and started to roll up the blue paper on the table. I couldn't see what was on there from the distance I was at, unfortunately.

"Uh, sure, I'd like to." She gave the flash of a smile. It seemed like she was already getting down to work with Shen, she certainly was going to have fun trying to keep up with her. I hoped she would find it good down here, I know Kassara didn't have the best of starts on the Avenger, but I'm hoping that the idea of having an alien on board has lost its novelty by this point. It was only really Elena, Goblin, and Samurai that were openly against having Kassara on the ship anymore, and I don't think anyone paid it much attention when it came up. Maybe everybody finally saw Kassara as part of X-Com, as much as any of us were. Maybe they would see Ash as part of us as well.

"So, Shen's already got you started on a little project, I see. What are you working on?" Brick started conversation as we made our way down to the cafeteria.

"Yes, she has. She's tasked me and another engineer with completing the weapons and armor order for Athissa. I'll admit, I didn't think the Commander would prioritize it so much, I didn't think he would be so willing to put so many resources towards it." She responded, somewhat excitedly. "I don't know much about it, though, I haven't really built anything before. But I understand the technological side of it, which is the bit that Shen says is the hardest, and the other engineer can help me learn."

"Sounds like you got your work cut out for you," Brick responded, turning around to flash a quick smile at Ash, one of the warm ones that just made you feel a little more at peace. "Hope it all goes well for you down there. A lot to learn in a short amount of time."

"I'm up for it though. X-Com isn't what I thought it was, so many people in Advent paint you as Xenophobic humans, who want to murder every last alien left on the planet. I've only been here for a short while I know, but Kassara and Zero, along with everyone I've met so far has shown me the opposite. I want to help, in my way." She ecstatically responded, moving closer to us. I moved to the side to allow her to be beside us as we walked to the cafeteria. She looked a bit more comfortable now Brick was talking to her.

"Well…It's true for some of us. There are a couple here that aren't a fan of vipers being on board the ship. I can only advise you ignore them, but if they start anything, I'll be right there to defend you from them." Brick warned, the smile disappearing from her face, suddenly becoming more serious.

"Really? Do you mean they are violent?" She asked, becoming clearly more worried at Brick's words. "I can't fight. At least I don't think I can, I'm not trained for it."

"No, no, they won't fight!" Brick laughed, at the absurdity of what Ash had suggested. "More just like a couple of nasty words at worst. They've got used to having Kassara on the ship, I'm sure they won't bother you too much. And if they do, ignore them. Even Elena, the Reaper on board our ship isn't quite as bad as she used to be around Kassara, right?" She asked, turning towards me.

"Yeah…sort of. She's not…you know, shouting her down anymore. I don't really know." I shrugged in response. "I think it's a little more chilled out than it used to be, but Elena is still Elena, you know?"

We arrived at the doors to the cafeteria, Brick pushing both doors open with her hands, taking her time to peer around the occupied tables, quickly identifying the one more of the people we knew were sat around. I followed where she was looking to, and a small sinking feeling started washing over me, as my eyes immediately saw the hulking figure of Goblin sat at the table, already staring at the new viper behind us. What startled me even more, was that Kassara was also sat at the table he was at, talking with Vandal and Ruby, sat alongside Twitch, and Echo at the same table.

"Uh…am I seeing that right?" I asked, tapping Brick on the shoulder briefly. She had just paused at the door, obviously trying to figure out the same thing.

"Yeah, you are. I suppose let's go sit down and introduce Ash." She responded hesitantly, picking up a tray as she walked towards the selection of food at the front.

"What's wrong? Is one of them Elena?" Ash asked from behind me, leaning in slightly with a lowered voice so only I could hear her.

"No, Elena is a reaper. It's Goblin, the large one at the table. He doesn't like Kassara very much, they haven't exactly got on together at all. We're a little surprised he's sitting with her at all." I explained.

"What's a Reaper?"

"Oh…they're another resistance group, like the Liberated. But they're very anti-alien. You'll know who she is when you see her." I said, turning back forward to choose the food I wanted from the selection in front of me. I glanced back towards Ash to see her doing exactly the same as Kassara would have, picking out all the different meats, and completely leaving everything else. I followed Brick to the table, taking a seat next to Ruby and Brick, Kassara opposite me, with Goblin the other side of Ruby, whilst Ash sat next to Brick. I saw eyes darting at us as we sat down, before they mostly returned to their individual conversations, but Ruby broke away from the one she was having with Kassara as I sat down.

"Heya, hot stuff, long time no see!" She greeted, giving me a slight nudge with her elbow. From where I was sat, her hair covered most of the far side of her face, draping over her eye. "How was it getting cozy with the viper ladies at the Liberated?" She asked, giving a wink to accompany the question. I glanced over to Kassara, giving her a quick wave in greetings, which she returned with her serpentine smile, before I returned to talk to Ruby.

"Went pretty awfully, to be honest. Glad to be out of that," I shook my head. "I prefer the vipers here anyway."

"Yeah, so I've heard." She grinned. I had to stop myself from doing a double take towards Kassara, the comment taking me off guard for a moment. I feared for a brief second that Brick had actually told people, or Echo, but I quickly reassured myself that it was just Ruby being Ruby, and it was nothing to worry about. I looked across the table to the others dotted around, catching a couple of them still stealing glances at both me and Kassara, barring Goblin, who sat quietly at the end, glancing over towards Ash, but holding his tongue.

"Yeah, they weren't my best fans. They held it against me for the entire weekend, they didn't really fancy speaking to me." I shrugged, guessing that she didn't mean anything by it.

"Ah, but you had Kassara to keep you company, didn't you? Couldn't have been that bad. So, tell me, did you two actually seal the deal whilst you were there?" She teased, lowering her voice down to me, but I could tell Kassara certainly heard it, her head lowering slightly in towards us. I glanced behind me, seeing Ash's eyes drifting from Brick over towards us. She possibly heard her too.

"What?" Kassara asked her, catching her attention quickly.

"Oh come on, you two got to spend a weekend effectively along, and you're telling me nothing happened? It was the perfect opportunity." She laughed, before seeing our faces, Kassara's being a mix between shocked and worried, I'm sure mine looked fairly similar. She quickly backtracked upon seeing our expressions. "Oh wait, was that supposed to be a secret?"

"What? No!" Kassara burst out, drawing even more attention to us, Brick turning around to face me. I think my suspicions had been proven true, that Brick or Echo had indeed told somebody about what had happened. "Nothing happened. Nothing has happened, and nothing will happen." Kassara adamantly stated, taking Ruby a little by surprise. I think it's the first time I had ever seen Ruby look even slightly uncomfortable. I could feel myself cringe a little at her words too though. It proved I was right by holding back in the broken ride carriage. She really didn't feel anything for me, it was just the drink. Which I could understand. I turned around to Brick, not even having to ask any words before she came clean.

"Sorry, Zero, I'm sorry. I just let it slip, I didn't mean to do it." Brick apologized quickly and quietly, it sounded sincere. I was disappointed in her, but it was kind of expected, to be honest. I think there was only going to be so long until people found something out anyway. I'm just glad it wasn't the first incident, I hope Kassara kept that to herself as well, that would put her in more danger than she needed. She had her head in her hands now, hissing softly, though I couldn't tell whether she was angry or upset.

"Wait what happened?" Goblin asked, interrupting the conversation. Kassara drew her head up from her hands to look at him, hesitating, glancing to me briefly for some sort of encouragement. Everyone seemed to wait for her or me to tell him, and I don't think there was a way I could say it without implicating Kassara as the initiator, cause that was the truth. I didn't ask for it, it wasn't on my mind until she made the move.

"After the party, when we were drunk, Zero and I almost mated," She slowly spoke, soft enough that it was just the table we were on the could hear it. "Well, not almost. It wasn't close at all." Ruby was trying to suppress a chuckle beside me, whilst Goblin wore a look of surprise, his eyes flicking between Kassara and me repeatedly.

"You two are a thing?" He asked, his voice gruff and accusatory to us.

"No! no, not at all." Kassara reassured, her hands in front of her dismissing the notion as well. "I was just very drunk. And nothing happened."

"Good. I wouldn't want Zero getting lured into the worst mistake of his life. A human and a viper? That's just wrong." He muttered. His words hit home a little, it was hard for me to initially come to terms with the idea that liking a viper might not necessarily be a bad thing, it was always my concern that dating a viper would just be wrong, and Goblin saying this started making those thoughts start to resurface.

"A human and a viper dating is unheard of in Advent," Ash interrupted, possibly trying to change the topic. She shifted in her seat as all eyes rested on her. "For the same reason you cite. It's wrong. Why should it be? If a human and viper find solace in each other's company, what's the problem with taking it to the next step? It's certainly not a matter of consent, vipers have been recorded to have higher intelligence than humans on average."

Goblin sat staring at the grey viper as if she had insulted his family, but he didn't respond, he was thinking it over, even if he didn't show it. "I suppose it isn't any of my concern. But personally, I wouldn't on that basis. You are a race of the Elders, you aren't from this planet. Genetically engineered to mess with us and control us. It would be stupid to fall into the Elders' games. It's unnatural. It's wrong."

"So you wouldn't have a problem with Zero and Kassara dating?" Twitch asked him, the question I'm sure a few had on their minds. Brick looked apprehensive, ready to defend Ash from Goblin. Admittedly, he was being rather well behaved, considering she was challenging him, and that there were even two vipers at the table. Elena would have probably just stood up and left ages ago.

"We're not dating." I reminded Twitch. He raised a hand in apology, mouthing sorry.

"What is 'dating' exactly?" Kassara asked. Ash quickly answered it for her.

"It's the act of courtship between two people who want to nurture feelings between one another. Usually, it's just spending more time with one another, beginning to express yourself to the other in ways you wouldn't to anyone else. It's like a beginning period before you decide to commit to being with someone." She explained, not seeming to miss a beat on her own constructed definition. Arguably, it was better than I could ever manage to explain it as. Kassara seemed to pause, falling into deeper thought.

"...I would have an issue with it, but I wouldn't stop them, if that's what you mean," Goblin returned, standing up from his chair, I could see Brick tense up beside me, ready for what he was doing. "I can't stand talking about this anymore, I'm off." He declared, pacing out of the room, leaving us all wondering what was happening.

"He wasn't that bad, you know, you made it sound like he was gonna start calling me a bunch of names all the way through dinner." Ash shrugged, talking immediately to Brick. Brick just shrugged back, I'm sure everyone was just as confused as she was, I certainly was. I didn't hear a single mention of 'Xeno', or any directed slur. Maybe he was just dealing with the fact we now have aliens on our ship.

We finished off our food, staying to chat a little more to everyone at the table. Ash seemed to do alright with the small talk, she certainly came out of the more quiet mood she had been in at the start. Although that's understandable; she was new here. She certainly had as much clue as Deadbolt did at dealing with Ruby's flirty remarks, but she seemed to get on well with Vandal and Twitch otherwise. After dinner, I headed down to the gym with Brick, Kassara opting to head off before I remembered to ask her about what the meeting with the Commander was about.

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 14:53 EST, 05/17/2035, Location: Eastern U.S.)

Today was the day, we were on our mission to hunt my Matriarch, I'm sure of it, even if Bradford hadn't told anyone else yet. I stood in the armory, putting on the rest of my armor alongside everyone else; Brick, Goblin, Zero, Elena, and Ty. I was expecting to receive some flak from Elena and Goblin at some point, but apart from Goblin's scowl as he saw we were on the same mission, he stayed mostly quiet, and Elena just put on her mask, meaning I couldn't read her at all. Attaching my headgear now, I still felt a dread within me at the mission. I had made promises to the Commander, promises that I will take down my own species leader. My own Matriarch. It felt so treasonous and wrong, but it needed to be done. It was better me than anyone else.

Over the past 5 days I had been battling with a couple of things, this included. The other was having to deal with the fact that Zero and I were common knowledge on the Avenger now. The amount of knowing glances I had seen from other soldiers were beyond the point at which I stopped counting. I've had a few sly comments on the lines of 'I'm sure you enjoyed your little break away together', and none of them helped. Not because they were wrong, not because they were mean-spirited, though I doubt many meant it nastily. But because it was mostly chilled out, like yes, it was something people talked about, what else did they have? But nobody acted as if it was a problem. It made me regret maybe not pushing it again earlier. Hell, I was cuddling him for an entire evening. And it felt amazing, it truly did, to have him in my coils, touching almost every part of his body, holding him close to me, I missed the feeling dreadfully. That moment in which I curled up to him in the ride carriage...it felt right. But with everything I've said about the issue since, I don't think there's a way back. If I had done anything to convince Zero that there was a possibility, I have long since...scarpered? Is that the right word? I have wasted whatever possibility there was. I could tell. It just didn't feel as close and personal talking to him as it did at the Liberated's camp.

I picked up my weapons from the table, fully equipped now, heading outside to the hangar, following Goblin out the door. He let the door close back on me, not bothering to hold it open, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the move, but fully expected it none the less. Once we had all boarded the Skyranger, the Commander's voice came over the comms, confirming what I already knew.

"Listen up, this mission is one of the most important missions we have done so far. We will likely only get one shot at this, and it needs to happen quickly. We are dropping you into the heart of a city currently on alert due to the actions of the Templars; they are making an attack on a valuable resource depot, whilst taking out the large gene clinic in the area. If they can get in and out, it will give us enough time to make the attack on the real target: The Hierarch Mother of the Vipers. She's a capture target, if possible, otherwise, eliminate and extract. A group of Reapers will meet you down there and lead you through the city to the target building. Once inside, wait for my signal, and fight your way up the building. You will have to be quick, but there are a few vipers in there that will help you advance further. Don't fire on a target until I give the word." He laid out the plan, outlining exactly what we were going to do.

"Is this what you were meeting up in the command center with him for?" Zero asked quietly, turning towards me, though it still drew the attention of everyone else, since there wasn't anyone really talking at the moment. "It was about going after the Matriarch, wasn't it?"

"Yes. He asked me in front of the resistance leaders. Put me on the spot a little," I complained, sighing slightly as I answered. "I think he knew what he was doing. He had me there for a reason. I just don't know why."

"Huh, that's a little strange." Elena interrupted. "Seems almost sadistic, if you had to ask me. Or making sure you know which side you're fighting for."

"I don't think that's what he was going for, for some reason." Zero dismissed, though it was hard to determine Elena's reaction under her mask, she didn't bother arguing the point, just turned away and left us alone. "Maybe he wanted to show off what X-Com have been able to achieve together with aliens. Show there's a way forward." He turned to me, to make his point instead. I admit, I preferred this sort of thinking to explain the Commander's actions. It felt better to think of it as him showing me off rather than putting me under scrutiny, of course.

The Skyranger continued on for a short while longer, before the pilot's voice came over the intercom to let us know we were about to drop into the city. I already felt tense going onto the ship before, knowing that I was being sent out to hunt my Matriarch. My apprehensiveness only grew knowing that the moment I had to act on it was getting closer. The ramp opened up, revealing the orange afternoon sky, and we lined up to drop off of the ship, ready for the mission. I felt Zero's hand on my armor, he must have seen how nervous I was. I felt like he could just tell when I was upset or anxious, and even though I would like it so much more to feel his hand on my scales, his reassurance helped me nonetheless.

After I grabbed the rope and slid down, meeting everyone else at the bottom, in the entrance to a small alley, the ship hovering just above the buildings flew off, as unnoticed as it came in, somehow. Ash must have really been able to work her magic to stop any of the sensors Advent installed everywhere from picking it up. Two Reapers waited down the alley, ushering us towards them. Elena lead the way, bringing their numbers up to three, as we progressed through the connecting alley. Ahead was what looked to be a road, probably used mostly for Advent transport, since a lot of people tended not to own cars these days. We watched, waiting in the shadows as the Reapers peered out into the road. We could see a few people walking along the pavement on the other side of the street. As soon as there was a gap, they darted across the road, they looked like shadows flitting across the road as if cast by some birds above.

"We're in position. Start the attack." I heard Elena relay back to the Commander over the comms. Within seconds, A loud explosion shook the city, the disruption sending a shockwave that all of us could pick up, not just me, as I watched the others glance at each other in surprise. That must have been the start of the Templars attack, and with the panic, the people on the road quickly scattered. We approached the end of the alley, watching as one of the Reapers threw a small device to our left, our sightline to where it landed obstructed by the wall of the building to our left. Elena and the other Reaper took aim, and two shots rang out, the first accompanied by the explosion of the claymore device, annotated by the familiar gurgling of an Advent soldier, and a second shot marked the end of the second soldier. It barely had any time to react, even shout in terror at what had happened. We crossed the road, everyone stealing glances at the Trooper and the Captain who lay dead on the floor, no alert to us yet.

Passing through one more alley, it became apparent to us which building was the one we were looking for. A tall building marked the peak of the skyline in the area, the black colored building boasted long windows that must have spanned several floors. The building had a set of large double doors at the front, two vipers standing guard outside, mirroring the two golden statues that stood just a few meters in front of them.

"Take the shot on the viper on the left. The one on the right is with us." The Commander's voice echoed through our heads. I watched Zero line up his shot, as we waited in silence. I looked back at him briefly, watching the corner of his mouth quiver, his doubt becoming immediately apparent. I could only hope he could overcome his feelings. He was second-guessing the Commander because of his earlier experiences with the Liberated. But he didn't hesitate any further. At the crack of his barrel, the viper dropped dead, the second viper waiting guard kept her weapon down, scanning the surroundings until she found us, motioning for us to follow her. The Reapers behind us wished us luck, before disappearing back down the alley, leaving us as a 7, with the new viper in tow. Approaching closer to the front of the building, passing by the statues, I recognized the viper, the markings more apparent to me now.

"Kassara?" She asked as we approached the doors, her weapon still held by her side.

"Astrith, it's good to see you!" I greeted back. "Didn't realize you would be on the mission. After my little outburst, anyway."

"What 'outburst'?" Brick asked, but her question was ignored by both of us, opting not to indulge in explaining.

"It was a little wake-up call. Athissa's changed how she's running things at the Liberated, trying to get more humans, you know. Something you said just clicked, I guess." She shrugged. She seemed genuinely happy to see me, as far as I could tell.

"We don't have much longer, let's cut the small talk." Bradford said over the comms, Elena relaying the information coldly to Astrith.

"Right. Hettie and Ethera are inside, along with another viper. We estimate there to be a couple dozen of vipers in the guard, so we've replaced four of the guard, and one is down already, leaving 19, if our numbers are correct." She explained quickly, her words rushed, as she gave the details she was already aware of. "They will be on alert because of the Templar's attack, but we should be able to take enough of them by surprise. We'll carve a way straight to the Matriarch's floor, find the Matriarch and hold her there whilst we get your ship to extract us. We might need to fight our way to the roof."

And as soon as she finished her sentence, she pushed through the doors, her weapon already raised, the end of her plasma weapon lighting up green as she fired at the first viper in sight. The Commander ordered us into position, I waited outside the building behind a statue, peering down my scope through the open door, waiting for any movement that wasn't from our side. Elena pushed into the building, no bullets flying at her as she dashed in, her speed and low height keeping her from being shot at as she disappeared inside. Brick took position behind the door, opening the other, giving me vision to the viper that Astrith had already shot at. I fired my rifle without hesitation, the round felling the alien cowering behind a counter, not giving her a chance to return fire.

Brick then proceeded to unleash a barrage of heated alloy at another target out of sight, under command, the hisses of pain audible even from outside the building. The entire building was gonna be on alert from now on, we had to make use of Elena to let us know where the enemies are.

We pushed through the lobby of the building, pristine beige tiles layering the reception area, skinned and polished to perfection. A couple of unarmed vipers lay huddled behind one of the desks, Astrith towering over the reception desk to talk to them. She was telling them to stay put, or she would shoot. I felt bad about her saying that, I would prefer to have let them go, but I suppose the last thing we needed was the possibility of more troops entering in the building behind us. They just looked so scared, both curled up into nervous piles, their eyes wide with terror. I just felt sorry that they had to be in this situation. I'm sure they would bolt once we were all gone, regardless.

Crossing to the other side, we began our ascent up the stairs. It unfortunately placed us in a bit of a choke, so I was expecting them to be ready to shoot at us as soon as we went up. Elena made the run first, dashing up the stairs quickly and finding her cover, not a single shot fired.

"There are three vipers waiting for someone to come up the stairs. The rest of the floor seems to be office blocks. They're all positioned in full cover, whoever comes up will get shot at by all three." She relayed back, her voice hushed over the intercom. I could hear the cogs ticking even through the headset, as the Commander devised a plan.

"Kassara, break one of the windows downstairs, grapple up and flank their position. We'll wait for you to fire." He ordered, his command decisive. I followed the instructions, smashing down one of the long window panes with the butt of my gun, dashing through and grappling up towards the first floor, as the window covered both of the floors. I already had my weapon in the single fire mode, so I brought my weapon to my face as I moved up through the air, the wind passing over my scales. As soon as I felt my scales begin to rest on the smooth surface of the tiles, my scope was already positioned near the head of one of the vipers, already looking at me, because the glass had shattered as I broke the window downstairs, but they weren't ready for me to come up. I flicked the barrel of my weapon towards the viper, a single plasma round ending her life before she could react. I darted to the nearest cover, still flanking the two vipers from their cover as they hid behind the marbled pillars that held the building up.

They shifted, running out of their cover to try and hide from the new threat. But their movement was exactly what the Commander had planned for, Brick and Goblin sprinting straight up the stairs, Goblin wielding one of the new arc swords, which found its way into the side of the furthest viper, the electricity of the blade shooting through the Viper, whilst Brick's rounds felled the closer one, as everyone moved up to the floor. The Viper fell back to the floor, green blood slowly coming out of her side, as Goblin kicked away the weapon, as she lay stunned, helpless.

"Wait," Zero stopped Goblin as he drew his sword back up to finish the viper. "We can't just kill her, she's disarmed."

"What do you mean we can't kill her cause she's disarmed? She can spit poison at us or strangle one of us, she is not harmless." Goblin argued back, sheathing his sword. I wondered why he was arguing back, yet also stopping his actions, until I heard the Commander again in my ear.

"Ty, finish off the viper, you need the focus." He ordered. "We can't risk leaving them alive. We are on a mission to take their leader, they will do anything to stop us, even at the cost of their own lives." He reasoned with Zero, watching as he sullenly accepted the Commander's opinion. He knew it was the right one, even if it seemed heartless. It did seem cruel, and it was upsetting when you consider the possibility that she could have turned, but it's only a possibility. The likelihood is exactly what the Commander said. And it matched what I knew about vipers, we were taught to kill even at the expense of our own lives. Advent until the end. I didn't want to watch as Ty finished off the viper, walking past the bodies down the corridor.

"Are we taking the elevator? We risk it being a literal shootout." Elena asked.

"Yes, we are. Elena, you make your way up the stairs and find the right floor, and you can provide a distraction as we come out of the Elevator. And the other vipers should be able to help." The Commander formulated, as we all assembled near the elevator, bar Elena. I glanced over at her, peering over the three bodies of the vipers, as she darted up the stairs, as nimble as she always was.

Thankfully, the elevator was fairly large, and they hadn't even bothered to shut it down, possibly cause they were looking to kill us as soon as we come out. They were in for such a surprise. We all stepped in the elevator, Ty entering last, waiting for the floor number to be delivered by Elena. As soon as she reported back, he tapped the corresponding number delicately, the elevator springing to life, moving us up. He kneeled down, placing his hands on the floor of the elevator, purple light flowing from his hands, tracing a line of bright pink, before standing up, a purple psionic barrier raising from the crack he had made. It looked the same as the barrier I had seen one of the other Templars using when we were recapturing their base.

I watched the red digital numbers slowly increase as we went up, the feeling of nausea building up in me once again. I felt like I needed to throw up, my body protesting what I knew needed to happen. I stood near the back of the elevator, Brick, Astrith, Goblin, and Ty all in front of me in the death trap of a room we called an elevator, I wasn't even sure how much protection Ty's barrier would give us. I held my weapon by my side as we climbed the floors, trying to find peace in my own mind at what was to come. As I closed my eyes, trying to tune out the red numbers that were only serving to agitate me further, I felt a hand grasp onto mine. Zero's fingers brushed over mine, pulling my attention down to him. Just staring down into his delicate features reminded me why I was doing this. For us. For X-Com. It put my mind at slightly more ease, knowing I wasn't alone, knowing that he understood. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze back, before letting him fall from my grip once more, the movement nondescript and unknown to the rest of those that shared our confines. A new determination rose within me, replacing the nausea, a conviction that we were going to do this. We were going to capture the Hierarch Mother of the Vipers.


	20. Chapter 20

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 16:27 EST, 05/17/2035, Location: Eastern U.S.)

The brief feeling of Kassara giving me a small squeeze back was all I needed, as I let her hand fall back from mine. I was excited, I couldn't wait to go forward with our plan, this was a moment that could turn the fight around for us. Capturing the Matriarch of the Vipers. But even with the adrenaline pumping through my body, a psyching me for the fight to come, I could see Kassara's unease. I just hope that she knew it was for the best, I know I couldn't understand why she felt the way she did, but I could guess at the reason why, for certain.

"There seems to be four Vipers waiting for you to come out of the elevator, you're gonna open up straight into an ambush. One seems to be messing with the electronic panel of the elevator, but they don't seem to be making much progress, they're getting a little frustrated." Elena radioed back to us, her voice hushed and lowered, presumably to avoid detection from the vipers.

"Haha, well they won't have much luck getting control of the elevator. Ash has access to the network in the building, they won't have much luck with any electronics here." Bradford chuckled back into our headsets.

"I can use a Claymore as a distraction as they leave the elevator" Elena suggested softly, but the Commander immediately responded.

"No, two of the Vipers are ours. Wait for them to open fire on the other Vipers, and take the shots on their targets. Should allow us to get out of the elevator without too much trouble."

I readied my weapon, my fingers brushing against the trigger as I tucked the stock into my shoulder, keeping the barrel pointed towards the ground. The digital display above the door counted up, going into the 20's now, as the entire team braced for the doors to open. The numbers started to slow, the elevator started to slow down, before there was a small 'ping', marking our arrival. Before the doors could open, I heard the sound of two plasma weapons discharge, followed by the crack of rifle. The doors started to slide open, showing the body of one of the vipers sprawled across the floor, the green-ish murky blood already dirtying the tile beneath her. The room in front of us was just an open tiled area, apart from a desk sat flat bang in the middle, where two Vipers currently stood, the markings of one of them already familiar to me, both with their weapons pointed to our left. Immediately, orders were barked over the comms from our Commander. Goblin and Taiya both rushed out of the Elevator, darting beside the cover, and sprinting out of the crowded lift. I watched as a brilliant green beam sparked across the open doors, before the rest of us could move. Goblin ducked immediately off to the side, the beam appearing to miss him by millimeters, his hands simultaneously reaching for the arc sword on his back, running towards the source of the shot. I heard a hiss, one full of pain, following a small grunt coming from Goblin. I heard the metallic sound of the psionic gauntlets spark to life, hearing Taiya follow up on Goblin's swing, not another sound to be heard from the Viper, apart from the sound of her body hitting the floor.

The psionic barrier that partially blocked the way out fell to the floor, disappearing as if there was a crack in the floor that it perfectly fit into. We filtered out of the elevator, Astrith leading the way, and with me following up the rear. Everyone's weapons lowered, including the two vipers that waited for us behind the desk. Hettie moved towards us, giving a nod towards Kassara and I as she approached the elevator controls, tapping on the blue panel a few times, standing over the body of the Viper that now lay dead on the floor.

"Excellent job, Commander. X-Com doesn't fail to impress." She commented, the faintest hint of intrigue flashing on her face for a brief moment. "She's panicking, she's trying to get through to anyone to get away from here. The Matriarch, that would be," She started, turning back towards us. She proceeded to head to the other side of the room, to the three sets of double doors opposite the lift. "Her office is on the other side of the floor. She's cooped herself in there with a few guards, one of whom is Ethera." She informed. We each went two to a door, Kassara and I took the doors either side of the middle pair, with the two Vipers waiting for our signal to advance further. With everyone in position, the Commander order for all of us to open the doors. With all the doors pushed open, we had a fairly unrestricted view into the next room. It was a large office style room lined with a royal blue carpet, and very high tech looking computers sat in small office cubicles, the walls of each cubicle high enough to see over. There must have been a good 15 or so consoles per row, though there were only two rows. There weren't any chairs at any of the desks, only the computers, various pieces of stationary or cups the only evidence that people even used this room.

"Wow..." Brick whispered to herself, as we pushed up as a squad, though I was ordered to hold back more than the rest of us, with Kassara taking the front with Goblin and Taiya. Elena pushed up around the right side of the room, the same side I was on, and Brick proceeding up the left side of the room. Brick was glancing into each of the cubicles, looking at the large screens, impossibly thin and sleek in design, with what looked like flat touch-sensitive keyboards to go with them. It looked very fancy, to say the least, it outclassed all of the clunky consoles I had seen aboard the Avenger. The place looked like it might be a central hub of operations for the Vipers, it certainly looked big enough. Without much warning, I spotted movement out of the corner of my left eye, as something slid behind Brick. I started to talk into the comms that I could see movement, but the enemy had already struck. A green plasma beam pierced the relative silence, punctuated by a yelp of pain from Brick. A second shot loosed from the same position, flying straight past Brick, narrowly missing her. Now with our attention on the source of the gunfire, we could all see the figure of three Vipers rising above the cubicles, having flanked behind Brick. They must have been waiting for her to pass before they attacked.

The third Viper moved closer to the middle, her gun raised to Hettie, the shot finding her mark. I could see Hettie shake under the hit, her body falling backward at being hit by the gunfire, though she caught herself before she hit the floor. She darted backward towards me, ducking down into another cubicle, her head sinking below the height of the cubicle walls, out of my sight.

"Zero, take down the Viper furthest on your left." I heard the Commander call into my ear, before tuning out the other orders being barked to the rest of the squad. I peered around the door, the Viper in my scope flanked from where I was, but I don't think she saw me until it was too late. Her eyes opened in sudden terror, as my barrel flashed with the loose of my round, hitting the Viper square in the chest, piercing through the little armor she had, slowly sinking to the floor, the gun falling from her hands before the rest of her followed. I watched as Brick took cover, using the medkit that she had on her to heal her wound, as Kassara lined up a shot on one of the other Vipers. Her shot pierced through the blue boarded wall that the Viper hid behind, the hiss of pain enough to know that some of it had connected, but she still stood. Astrith quickly changed her position, trying to get in front of the cubicle Hettie had hidden in, taking her own shot at the third Viper, but the shot fired wide, narrowly missing. Elena moved around, dashing closer to where I was, but simply taking cover, and not firing, having been told to enter Overwatch, though she wouldn't fire unless she was found by one of the other Vipers. Ty took up the other flank, running across to the other side of the room, near where Brick was, loosing a few rounds from his autopistol, but only getting the two remaining Vipers to cower from his shots. Goblin ran with his sword, dashing in between the cubicles, and striking at the Viper Kassara had hit, the speed he moved at clearly taking her by surprise, as he found his target, before dashing back around the corner, out of sight of the final Viper.

She seemed to be in a slight panic, the reaction of the soldiers she was fighting obviously too quick, too much for her to handle calmly. She spat towards where Goblin was, a green, thick gas erupting where he was stood, and we could all hear him hacking up into the comms channel. The Viper then moved to fire a shot off onto Taiya, but he raised his hands, anticipating the shot, a purple flash erupting from his wrists. The green beam seemed to deflect straight off of him, instead slamming into the wall to his right, leaving him unharmed. The Viper's eyes went wide with shock, even I could see her being completely taken back by what she had just seen. More orders were called, Kassara obeying to the letter, closing the distance to the last target, firing a repeating volley from her gun, and Ty following up, closing the distance that remained between him and the Serpent. I could hear her start to call out for him to stop, her gun clattering to the floor as she raised her hands in front of her, a desperate 'no' escaping before she was cut down where she stood. A small part of my brain felt a pang of regret, even though it was a fleeting feeling, I had the brief thought nonetheless. The fight had started so quickly, and finished almost as fast, the three Vipers who ambushed us now lay dead on the floor, with a couple of injuries on our side to show for their efforts. I just hoped that we were still in a good enough position to continue.

Goblin was still coughing, now on his knees, having left the cloud of poisonous gas. It sounded like he couldn't really breathe, as if his airway was closing up. I moved towards him, concerned that he was seriously injured from the gas. Kassara had spoken about how Vipers had venom glands, and if they potency of the venom of snakes on Earth was anything to go by, small snakes could kill adult men with just a small amount of venom. And the venom that Goblin was now dealing with came from a snake that was taller than most humans, if not all. At least it wasn't directly injected into him.

"Goblin, are you okay?" I asked, rushing over. The others started to move towards our position, Hettie also coming out from the cubicle she had hunkered down in.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" He choked through his coughs, sounding in pain, regardless of if he was trying to play it off. "Fucking poison."

"We only have two more medkits. We should keep them for later use, we don't know what we'll be up against further up. Is the Viper with us who got shot going to be okay?" Bradford asked. I watched as Kassara approached Hettie, her hand reaching out slowly to her, gently peeling away the arm that pressed on her midsection. Below the scratched armor she wore, the shot had clearly pierced her scales, a small wound opened to the air for us to see. She winced slightly under the pain, pulling her arm back from Kassara, placing it back onto the wound. I could imagine she would have had much more protection from the attack had she been wearing the same armor Kassara donned, which extended so much lower than the armor Hettie wore. As painful as the wound looked, Hettie seemed to be doing her best to conceal how much it actually hurt.

"She's hurt. Pretty badly. She's in a condition where she can continue, but she can't take another shot, Commander." Kassara reported, looking back over to us. Goblin was getting to his feet now, still releasing small coughs as if trying to clear something from his throat.

"We can hold here, we have a fairly defensible position if any of the Vipers on the lower floors try to come up and attack from behind. And it'll keep Hettie out of combat." The unnamed viper that was joining us on the mission suggested, receiving approving nods from Astrith. More silence plagued the comms for almost a quarter of a minute, before the Commander agreed to what was being suggested, meaning we were heading to capture the Matriarch as a six, with one viper still on the inside; Ethera.

"Alright squad, we need to move quickly. The Templars have bought us a lot of time so far, but I'm not sure how much longer they can be a distraction. Let's get going." Central called to us, as we quickly departed from the three vipers, leaving them behind us. The doors at the other side of the room simply led into a somewhat dark, but spacious corridor, with flat white walls, adorned for its entire length with podiums and plaques, all with their own dim lights shining down onto them. It looked almost like a row of museum exhibits, the soft lights making each attraction stand out, the light bouncing back of the floor, which was once again the marble tiling, and not the blue carpet. We kept our weapons ready as we advanced down the corridor, but I couldn't help but look we made our way up.

The first of the 'exhibits' showed a large datapad, the size of an A3 piece of paper, a green glowing crystal fixed in place above it, a small wire leaving the container the crystal was housed in connecting the datapad. A brief inspection of the title of the document I could see on showed me that it was completely written in a different language.

"Kassara...what does that mean?" I asked, already knowing she was already looking at the document too, even though she was behind me.

"Treaty between the Advent Alien Directive and Viper race. It marks the start of the Vipers joining their confederation." She explained softly. "This is a truce. They warred with the Elders too."

I continued with the group, a plaque was shown on the next podium, tilted at an angle for us to read easily. The words read out:  
'This plaque is to commemorate and remember the life of The second Matriarch of the Vipers, Unit -0023, who gave her life to save the lives of over 30,000 lives, those of Advent, those of Vipers, and those of Mutons. She did not hesitate to sacrifice herself to allow us to continue helping others. May her soul ascend to the Elders.'.  
The numbers must have been a shorthand way to write the Viper's unit code. That would make her the 23rd registered Viper right? The sacrifice of one life to save many others...I can't tell how much of it was Advent inflating the number, or even making it up altogether, but it was a notable feat...if it were true.

We continue making our way down the corridor, all of the different things I could see was like a short illustration of the Viper's history, the things they have done. Several of the different podiums showed datapads of newspapers announcing new miracle cures, of new advances in genetic modification, advances in reducing poverty and hunger thanks to work from the Vipers towards the Advent directive. It marked the occasions where they were able to help the Sectoid race, make advances with Archons, changing them from a mishmash of machinery and flesh to almost god-like beings in appearance. Every single notable feat achieved by the race was documented in this hallway, probably less than 50 meters long in total, with well over 40 exhibits, it was remarkable to see, it brought a sense of awe over me. Part of me would have loved to walk slowly down here, and really absorb in the detail of each one. There's only so much I could pick up on my first rushed pass through here. Though I was fully aware it would be my last as well.

We waited at the next doors at the end of the corridor, Brick and Goblin opening up the double doors, revealing in front of us a large wall of glass, expanding all the way across the building, from side to side, with a glass door worked into the wall of windows. Though we couldn't see through into what was beyond it, not much, as there were large bookcases, desks, you name it lining the glass, barricading us out. Before the glass, was an area filled with a few chairs, a few odd small bits of furniture here and there, but it looked like it had been stripped of most of what should have been in here, obviously now the other side of the glass. Kassara and I held the door as the other four pushed into the next room, which expanded out. It was very long width ways, the walls made entirely of windows, letting the light illuminate the room completely, in contrast to the corridor before it.

"This is the Matriarch's office then?" Elena asked, her voice low and gruff. "The entire thing is made out of glass. Why couldn't we have just shot her from outside instead of capturing her, it would have been so much easier."

"Have you looked outside? Nowhere else is tall enough." Goblin shook his head, hunkering behind one of the bins, his frame poking out from the sides. "There's only one building ages away, we're not making a shot from there, at least. No Sniper is that good." He gave a soft chuckle, a huff of distaste sounding from Elena in response.

"I have a shot on one of the Vipers inside, I think. It's a small gap but I think it's a Viper I can see." Kassara spoke over the chatter between the two soldiers. I looked over to her, she was leaning against the door frame, her head completely lowered down to the scope. She was almost perfectly still, it was amazing, only the tip of her tail showing any sign of movement.

"Do i-"

"No don't!" The Commander quickly called back over Bradford, interrupting him before he could even finish giving the order. "We don't know if that's the wrong Viper. Which Viper are we looking out for?"

"Ethera. Orange Viper, yellow patches." I responded, recalling the Viper from my time at the liberated.

"I can't tell if it's Ethie or not. I haven't got a good view, it's just the color of a viper that I can see through a small gap between the bookcases." Kassara shook her head.

"Alright, then we'll go in loud. Goblin and Taiya find full cover in the room. Brick, launch a grenade at the weakest part of their makeshift barricade, we should be able to get in by destroying part of their wall. Elena, you dash in as soon as the grenade explodes, and we'll see if we can enter with a claymore, catch them off guard. We've got one shot, let's capture that Matriarch." The Commander explained the plan, everyone running into place to get ready for the breach. My heart kept pumping faster, I could feel it hammering away in my chest. I could barely control my excitement.

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 16:35 EST, 05/17/2035, Location: Eastern U.S.)

My fingers wrapped around the barrel of my gun, my finger twitching dangerously against the trigger, as I waited in anticipation. I was trying to ignore my mind, at the moment it only provided too much of a distraction, I just needed to focus on the task at hand. Too many questions on whether what I was doing was right or not, too many questions on what was going to happen. I watched from the corner of my eye as Brick grabbed her flashy grenade launcher from her back, pushing the handle in the prime the grenade, and finally pulled the trigger. I watched Elena begin her dash, as the little red light that flashed on the grenade landed by the glass. With a terrifying explosion, the glass shattered, spraying everywhere, most of the windows that made up the front of the office demolished with the explosion, despite being nowhere near it. Several hisses accompanied the sound of the explosion, along with the tinkling sounds of the little fractures of the panes spraying onto the floor, some of the tiny fragments even finding their way towards me and Zero near the back. I saw the hooded figure of the Reaper disappear into the temporary black cloud that obscured the damage from our eyes, disappearing straight in their room.

"Uh, Commander, we have a problem. That's not a normal Viper..." Elena immediately croaked over the comms. "It's...it's bigger, it's got armor."

"Do we have a visual on the Matriarch?" Bradford asked, as the Commander lay silent, as the smoke started to clear, enough to see some gaps through into the office beyond, the far wall of the office also made of a glass wall, just as the front was.

"Yeah, huddled near the back, brown Viper, black armor." Elena confirmed into the comms. "There are six Vipers in total in here, including her and the armored one."

"I've got a plan..." The Commander interrupted, ignoring the talk between Bradford and Elena. "Elena, you can throw a claymore near the armored viper, that's still in vision of Zero. Once the claymore is thrown, Zero, shoot the Claymore, and Taiya and Goblin will rush in afterward and get the strikes on the Viper. Both should be able to dash back out, Goblin should be able to get the kill." He outlined, speaking with certainty. Nobody questioned his decision, and immediately his plan was set in motion. The Claymore was thrown, and before the Vipers could react to it, Zero's shot pierced through the remnants of the smoke, hitting its target. Another loud explosion sounded from within the room, as Goblin and Taiya also went into the breach. The explosion must have been enough of a distraction, as there wasn't any gunfire as soon as they ran into the gap in their barricade. But as soon as they had run into the room, I heard the Matriarch call to the other Vipers.

"Now!" Her shrill voice called out, and immediately a blanket of the venomous gas filled the entrance to the room, meaning both Taiya and Goblin were now trapped in there. The Commander quickly called for me to advance, through the smog into the room, to provide support. I dashed forward, flicking my rifle onto automatic mode, diving headfirst through the smokescreen, to the sight of the armored viper in front of me. Black plates with red marking reminiscent of the armor worn by the Troopers covered her body, her helmet seeming to grip almost around her head, but left her lower jow untouched, enough for her to hiss at her attacker, as Taiya sliced into her with his purple gauntlets, the light piercing through her body as she recoiled under the hit, but quickly restabilized. The armor seemed to almost be fluid, wrapping around her body perfectly, moving with her, it was almost hypnotizing. It covered the entirety of her hood, even the underside, it was such an improvement to the base armor they gave everyone else. Was this one of the genetically enhanced Vipers that the Matriarch had been given the go-ahead to pursue?

Goblin followed up Taiya quickly, not giving her any time to react. Or so I thought. She seemed to be still recovering from the psionic attack, but she raised her gun, both of her hands pushing it up into the oncoming blade, enough strength to block Goblin's attack. He staggered backward, as her tail whipped around from behind her, crashing into his midsection and sending him sprawling backward, dangerously close to the green fog. She quickly followed up, her rifle leveling towards the fallen figure, and a green bolt slamming into his back. Goblin let out an anguished cry of pain as I saw it burn into his armor, trying quickly to recover to his feet. I was about to fire my own weapon at the new threat, but a flash of green from my right caught my attention, as I saw Ethera firing her own weapon at the Viper, the plasma hitting her square in the back of the hood. With a crash, the genetically enhanced Viper collapsed to the floor, her gun clattering across the marble tiles.

"What!?" The Matriarch called out, her confusion obvious to everyone in the room. She was currently taking cover behind her desk, pushed back towards the windows near the rear of the room. "You filthy Traitor!" She accused, bringing her own weapon up to the accused, firing her own weapon at her. Ethera was able to move out of the way of the enraged attack, repositioning behind an upturned table.

"We need to get more people into the room. Brick, blast another hole!" The Commander barked. "Kassara, I need you to try to subdue to Matriarch. There's three other Vipers, the rest can take care of them."

I took off immediately, hurling my body over the desk at her, before she could even react to my movement. My wrists met her neck as I flew towards her, smashing her head back into the glass behind her as I toppled over the desk. Her gun fell to the floor, though I still held mine, as she desperately tried to recover from the hit. I watched as the other Vipers tried to take aim at me, but they couldn't fire with their Matriarch in the way. A second explosion rocked the room, providing just enough of a distraction that I could make a follow-up strike on my mother, my gun smashing into the side of her face, knocking her towards the floor once more.

"Who...it's you, isn't it?" She sputtered, her hands brushing over her face where I had hit her. "The one from the jail..."

I glanced around, watching one of the other Vipers going down to a well-placed shot from Zero from the back of our squad, as Taiya, Ethie, and Brick dealt with the other two, all of the threats quickly going down to the squad who outnumbered them two to one. Unarmed and on the floor, my Mother made little effort of fighting back, as I stood over her, now with my gun aiming down towards her. She simply lay still, her hands open above her chest, surrendering herself to me. I did it. I actually did it, I just captured my own Matriarch. Sort of, we weren't in the clear yet, but this was the hardest part.

"Yeah. It's me." I responded cooly, as the rest of the squad started to congregate in the room, quickly surrounding us. Goblin used one of the two remaining medkits to heal his wound, clenching his teeth as he hissed through his pain, muttering what I imagine were curse words under his breath.

"So this is the face behind the Vipers?" Elena commented, as she walked over, taking her mask off. "You should be dead. And probably thankful I don't finish you off right now."

"You won't, I'm too valuable alive for you, aren't I?" My Matriarch sneered back at her, clearly unphased by her threatening demeanor.

"Hardly. I've just been told not to. Trust me, I wouldn't hesitate to end your insignificant life. Everyone would be better off for it anyway." She hissed back at her, not to be outdone.

"Settle down, folks. We've got what we came for. Break the windows to the outside and put a flare near the edge for our pilot to see, there's enough room in the sky that she should be able to pick you up from where you are." Bradford interjected Elena before she could continue threatening the Matriarch, who seemed to be happy to waste the time that way.

A million thoughts were rushing through my head as I looked down my barrel at my target, a million feelings flashed through my heart, and I didn't really know how to describe or even articulate any of it. But I knew to look through the contradictions, I knew to ignore the conflictions, I knew I was doing the right thing, that this was a way forward for our race. With the Matriarch under X-Com control, the Viper race will stop being so heavily embedded in Advent's grasp. Not that I knew where to even go from here. But I knew this was necessary. There was no doubt in that.

"Nicely done, Kass," Zero congratulated, his hand resting upon my shoulder armor, turning my attention away briefly from my Matriarch, but I quickly refocused. "She didn't even see you coming."

"Thanks," I gave a quick smile back at Zero, glancing quickly over towards him. Just looking at him helped bring some peace to the chaos of feelings occupying me, I couldn't explain it. But it helped.

"Someone should go get the Vipers back." Goblin commented. "I can keep watch over the Matriarch if you need, I won't let her out of my sights. I can promise you that."

"More Vipers? There were more turncoats here? How…when?" The Matriarch interrupted, though her inquiry fell on deaf ears, nobody willing to entertain her question.

"I'll get them, don't worry about it." Ethera nodded, before Bradford or the Commander could order one of us to fetch them. Nobody seemed to dispute it, so she left the room, making her back over the glass-ridden floor towards the small museum we had already made our way through.

Goblin seemed to aim his gun towards my Matiarch, so I lowered my gun from her, trying to take a couple of breaths to calm down slightly. I watched as Brick unleashed a volley of the magnetized alloy at the glass windows, breaking them so that Elena could place a flare, the blue smoke blowing into the sky out of the side of the building.

"Hang on, is this her computer?" Zero asked, pointing towards the screen I had narrowly avoided knocking over earlier when I jumped over my Matriarch's desk.

"We should be able to get into it, right?" I asked, dropping my gun to my side, my fingers flying across the holographic keyboard that sprung to life as my hand came closer. "It's currently disconnected from the network. I suppose that's Ash's doing, huh…"

"I should have known, when we first encountered the network problems…"

"Shut up, Viper." Goblin hushed her forcefully, jamming the gun towards her face to show his intent.

"We'll try and let the building back into the network. Don't be surprised if it starts alerting Advent to our position." Bradford said over the comms.

"So, is this your way of trying to get back at me for capturing and 'torturing' your little human toy?" My Matriarch asked, not listening to Goblin's warning. The barrel of his shotgun pushed into the scales of her neck, forcing her to recoil under his force, her hands not making any move to push him away.

"I told you to shut it." He hissed through his teeth. I could see the anger in his face, his eyes. He was almost waiting for her to give him an excuse to shoot. How much did she want to test us before she would get shot?

"He's not my toy. And your torture of him was brutal, shows the ethics and morality of the aliens that claim to help the humans as they enslave them. So, let's say yes. I hope you enjoy the boredom, and maybe we'll even be able to show you the same kind of treatment you would show to your adversaries. If you don't give us the information, of course." I responded, deciding to play her little game. We were going to be waiting for both the Skyranger and the computer to reconnect either way. Goblin seemed to let her speak, given that I was talking to her, and Bradford or the Commander certainly didn't seem to intervene either.

"They have indoctrinated you to be as radical as any of them are. What a promising Viper you were. Saviour of humans, you defended them against the extremists, even against poor odds you persevered." She ignored, choosing to congratulate me on my achievements before I was taken prisoner. I knew there was a second part coming, that was going to try to rile me up. I waited for her word expectantly. "And all it took was a human to show you any sort of affection and you would go against your own race. Don't get me wrong, I saw what happened. That you offered yourse…"

"You were told to be silent." I interrupted, loudly. "I'll make sure you'll really feel some pain if you don't shut your mouth right there." I threatened, knowing before she finished what she was about to bring up. I looked towards the computer, programmes starting to comes back online.

"How do you log in? What's your password?" I demanded from her instead, trying to quickly draw attention away from what she was talking about.

"You offered your body in exchange for your life to him. I don't blame you, but you couldn't help but fall for the selflessness of the human before you." She continued, ignoring me. I was glaring at Goblin, trying to indicate for him to shut her up, but he wore a look of shock on his face. I slowly glanced around, the look matched by others in the room.

"What's she talking about, Kass?" Brick asked, approaching from behind.

"The computer's on, we need to get into it."

"Get out one of the interfaces, let Ash access it remotely, she'll be through in less than a minute." The Commander ordered over the comms. A slight reminder that it wasn't just the people in the room that were now an audience to the Matriarch revealing secrets that I've kept secret all the time I've been at X-Com. And she knew it. I could see the look in her eyes, reveling in my misery. Elena took out her tablet from her coat, moving over to the desk beside me, not looking up once as she got on with her assigned task, whilst everyone else stared at me, Zero shyly remaining to himself, happy that the attention was not on him at this point in time.

"Kassara?" She repeated, walking closer to me. "What is she talking about?"

I stood in front of her, unsure of how best to answer. With everyone waiting for me, the Commander, Bradford, everyone.

"She didn't tell you?" She exclaimed, filling in the silence that was ensuing.

"Shut up." I ordered, knowing full well that there was nothing I could do to stop it from coming out now.

"I want to hear it." Goblin encouraged, his eyes looking dead into mine. "And you clearly don't."

"I thought it was all common knowledge!" She lied, I could see it in her eyes, knowing that she was starting shit for me. Why? What does she stand to gain from this? "She tried to kill your dear Sniper here, who successfully escaped. To try and bargain for her life, she offered herself to him." She spoke, unwinding the story for all parties present to hear, everybody judging either me or Zero, all to the unsettling grin playing upon my Matriarch's face. I glanced to my left, seeing the four Vipers returned from the corridor, though their approach turned to a more cautious one once they could see everyone in the room.

"Is that true?" Elena asked, looking up from the datapad she had laid on the table next to the computer, her eyes boring into mine. "You and Zero?"

"It didn't happen," Zero quickly chimed in. "I bandaged her wound and kept quiet about what she did."

"You really hid that fact from us? So when she joined up, you knew full well that she was an actual hazard!" Goblin burst out, turning his attention to him, and away from my Matriarch. "Are you fucking kidding me!"

"This isn't the time or place for this. Cease the discussion of the matter now, I will deal with it after the mission is concluded. We have a task at hand, let's not forget that." The Commander barked over the comms, as Goblin huffed, returning to watching our new prisoner. "We're in. Ash should be able to locate what we need in here."

"I've got bad news, Commander," Bradford started. "We are getting reports that something is attacking the Templars, they are sustaining casualties and are going to have to extract quickly. Now we're back on the network, we are next in line for whatever has attacked them."

"How long until we are able to extract?"

"Firebrand will be on site in 30 seconds."

We listened over the radio in silence, I could feel the renewed hatred of Goblin and Elena boring into me, I could see the dismay on Brick's face. I'm not sure what they were really thinking. Maybe she thought I had betrayed her? Maybe she thought Zero betrayed X-Com? Taiya only stood in silence, his thoughts a complete mystery to me. Even Ethera, and the other Vipers stayed quiet, not here for the entire conversation, obviously unsure of what had happened, but knew to stay out of it nonetheless.

All of us were stood still, just waiting, none of us realizing that we made perfect targets for our hunter. The glass to my right shattered as a singular bullet flew through the window, punctuated by a broken yell of pain. Goblin fell to one of his knees under the hit, and the Viper in his custody immediately made a break for the doors, trying to escape. Zero was quick to react, throwing his body in her path, using her weight against her, as he collapsed backward, bringing her quickly to the floor.

"What in the Elders' names?" Hettie hissed, expressing the shock just about everybody felt. Taiya darted over to Zero, quickly helping restrain my Matriarch, both of them dragging her back up to her feet, pushing her towards the blue flare.

"I…I think…I'm losing too much blood…" Goblin croaked, trying to get back to his feet I couldn't see his wound from where I was, but I could already see the spatters of blood as the drops hit the marble floor underneath him.

"Zero, use our last medkit on Goblin. We need to extract now." Bradford ordered. I watched Zero frantically palm off responsibility of subduing the prisoner to Ethera, as he pulled out his medkit from his utility belt, dashing over to Goblin to apply the healing spray. The rest of us immediately darted to try and find cover, none of us wanting to be in the Sniper's sights.

"I thought you said a sniper couldn't make those shots!" I heard Elena curse at Goblin.

"It's too far away! We were stood still for too long. There's too much distance, he can't hit us as long as we aren't still." He retorted. "Zero wouldn't even be able to get a good shot on him through his scope."

I didn't bother to test his theory, as a second shot came through the now open window. It cracked straight through one of the upturned desks, hitting Hettie straight through the cover. She didn't stand a chance. She crumpled onto the floor as the round entered her, her mouth slightly ajar, her eyes still open wide, facing me. I could feel the image burn itself into my mind immediately, sure to be the cause of a sleepless night.

"No! Hettie!" Astrith called out, breaking her own cover down to the now dead Viper, cradling her fallen comrade's head in her hands, the green murky blood staining her scales. I couldn't help but think of the shot he tried to make on Zero, back in South Africa. He must have shot pre-emptively, knowing someone would take refuge there, and knowing it wasn't good enough cover either.

"Skyranger is here, everybody get on board!" Brick called out to the rest of us. Sure enough, the low hum of the engines of the ship reverberated through the building as the great grey bird swung into view, seeming to hover perfectly, the ramp opening and approaching the flare. Nobody wasted any time. Zero grabbed the data pad on his way out, as we all made a dash towards our escape route. The Matriarch was bundled in first, Ethera and Taiya shoving her in forcefully. I made my dash for the ramp, eager to escape, entering just after the first two, with the rest of the squad jumping in pretty closely after. The only one left not on board was Astrith, still curled up next to Hettie's body.

"Fuck's sake." Brick cursed, jumping back into the office, grabbing the bloody hands of the distraught Viper, pulling her up, and dragging her urgently to the Skyranger. Brick jumped back in, turning around briefly to make sure Astrith was coming. She crossed the marble floor quickly, not far behind, and made the short jump to the Skyranger, leaping with the help of her tail to cross the small gap. It almost went in slow motion as at the apex of the small movement, a red flash smashed into her head, her body instantly going limp. Brick grabbed onto her hand, trying to pull her in as her body collapsed on the ramp. Goblin leaped to his feet, helping pull up the weight of the Viper, but only seeming to confirm what we all feared, as the ramp closed behind her tail. The round had found its mark perfectly.

"Elder's have mercy…" Ethera spilled, pushing her way past Goblin, with little resistance. She frantically tore off the Astrith's armor, pushing her hand against her chest, where her heart would be. I could tell the humans were unsure whether to look away or not, Goblin, Elena and Zero opting to, whilst Taiya and Brick continued looking, concern playing on everyone's face. The other Viper pushed her way towards the back of the bay, leaving the others to keep an eye on the Matriarch.

"…..There's nothing. She's dead." Ethera said with a sigh, collapsing down onto Astrith. "He took her. The Hunter got her." She muttered, her voice ragged and broken, tears undoubtedly soon to follow. A small crackle played over our comms, not a loud one, but it was noticeable, and the voice of the perpetrator sounded in all of our heads.

"The Elders never did like traitors. Tell your new friends to learn their lesson. I will come for them. I will come for you all. A traitor's death is what you all deserve." His voice rasped, his smugness glued to his words. "Consider this a warning. It will only get worse from here."

I watched as Brick removed her earpiece, seeming to hold herself back from throwing it out of frustration, burying her head in her hands. Her thoughts seemed to mirror mine, frustration and grief at the forefront of my mind. All of my feelings towards the vipers of the Liberated made me feel guilty, knowing that they made sacrifices for us today. I could only imagine how it must feel for Ethera, she had known Astrith and Hettie for a long time, by the sounds of it. Looking down to her, I could see her body jerk every now and again in time with her muffled sobs, as she wept over the body of her lost friend, only one of the two we could possibly bring back with us. I only wish I could offer something, anything, but my brain could only draw blanks.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 16:27 EST, 05/20/2035, Location: Unknown)

It had been a day since we had all returned from the mission to capture the Matriarch, and to say things on board the Avenger have been interesting would be a slight understatement. With the Matriarch now under our control, we have placed her in the cell that Kassara lived in for the last part of her imprisonment here, with two guards on watch constantly. I worry about her more than I did with Kassara. I feel like she was more willing to try something to try and escape and use the fact that she's important as to why she should stay alive. I could only hope that the Commander would be able to see past this and not allow her to get away with such acts.

On the other hand, I have been in my fair share of trouble as well. With the final secret between Kassara and I unleashed to the entirety of X-Com, there wasn't anybody who didn't know of both events now, of both letting Kassara live when she tried to kill me, and then her attempt to mate with me after the party. Some people didn't particularly care, and I received nothing more than a couple of odd glances, or the occasional teasing remark. But there were a lot of people that did care a hell of a lot more. Goblin wouldn't speak to me anymore, knowing now that I had let her live, and that I should have 'killed her where she stood' as soon as I had the chance. Elena certainly seemed to be treating Kassara with a lot less respect that I had seen creeping into their interactions, it was like all the hard work of trying to get her to see the good side of Aliens working with X-Com just flew straight out of the window. I'm not that surprised, it reinforced everything that she used to believe.

And Brick and I hadn't spoken about it properly yet. It was already a little uneasy after she had told everyone the latter of the two secrets I had tried to keep. Now she knew that I had been lying to her and keeping the fact that Kassara tried to kill me a secret, that she thought I could at least trust her with that. To be put simply, we had both breached each other's trust, and I don't think it would be easy to repair so quickly. And that's just the other soldiers on board the Avenger. Since Kassara's Matriarch had told everyone, the Commander and Bradford included, my actions of letting Kassara live were now known by my seniors. I hadn't received any actual punishment for it; a part of me was fully expecting to be removed from the ship. I was fearful at any point that Bradford would take me aside, and bring me up to the Commander, and I would have to pay for possibly putting others at risk with my decisions.

I had heard from others on the ship of what happened as a result of our mission yesterday. Apparently, the Hunter wasn't the only one to show up. The Assassin and Warlock both showed up to where the Templars were making their stand, and slaughtered numerous Templars before they were able to make an escape. It's almost as if they were ready for us, ready to ambush us on our mission. They just didn't know that the main distraction wasn't X-Com, but the resistance groups. Or maybe they did know. But the point was that quite a few lives were lost, trying to achieve our goal of capturing the Matriarch. And apparently, the Templars weren't overly happy about what happened, considering they received the brunt of the damage. I could only imagine Athissa's remorse at sending two of her better soldiers to their graves. But I suppose that it is also part of the risk of doing missions like these.

We were heading back to South Africa first to drop of Ethera and the other Viper, and to deliver the remains of Astrith, at least allowing them to give her some respite. Hettie and Astrith both earned a place in our memorial room, their names added to the chart of dead soldiers over the years, on adding to the tally of lives we have lost. I had just finished my lunch, having eaten with Ruby and Vandal, and decided to pay a small visit. On arrival, I could see the slumped form of a Viper curled up in front of the desk, her head in her hands. I could tell from the orange color who it was. I know that she probably didn't want any company at this point; she was mourning, sometimes people just wanted to be left alone. But she noticed me peering in through the doorway, bringing her head up from her hands momentarily. The scales of her snout were moist, her red eyes glistened under the dim lighting that illuminated the wall.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." I apologized quickly, raising a hand in apology. Ethie shook her head at me, seeming to try and hold back a series of small, gentle hisses, as she tried to tidy up her appearance briefly.

"It's fine. I'm just...I'm...I don't know. I didn't think I would lose them. I hadn't ever considered it. It hurts more than I thought it would have." She sighed softly. I walked into the room with her, kneeling down beside her, glancing up at the board of faces in front of us. Having no pictures of either Hettie or Astrith, we couldn't exactly put up their pictures, but their names were down with everyone else's.

"There wasn't a way we could have known we were going to be ambushed by the Hunter. I'm sorry they didn't make it, I know it must be hard for you." I sympathized. Being here, in front of the names of those who gave their lives to a cause they believed to be just, it was somewhat humbling. "You all really cared for each other. I could tell that from my time with you."

"Yes, it is quite difficult. I've spent my entire life with both of them, we made the journey away from Advent together. I've known them for...it must be over 10 years now. All of it gone in the blink of an eye. I just...I wish I could go back and warn them, you know? Change what happened." She admitted, speaking slowly, pausing slightly in between her sentences, seeming to try and recollect herself. "By the way...what is the bottle for?" She asked, pointing towards the small table in front of the wall. On it was a glass of brown liquor, and a set of small shot glasses stacked neatly beside it.

"Alcohol." I answered back quickly, picking up the bottle and inspecting it. The label was worn, but I could make out the word 'whiskey' at the bottom. Not that there was an alcohol percentage to be seen on the bottle, it must have come off at some point.

"What?"

"It's a drink from the old world. Humans used to drink it for a variety of reasons. It's like a drug, to be honest." I expanded, unscrewing the top of the bottle. I brought it to my nose briefly, having a short sniff of the drink. Given that the bottle was near a bunch of shot glasses, I expected it to be pretty strong, and it definitely smelled that way. I recoiled slightly from the bottle, turning away my nose in disgust as the alcohol assaulted my nose. The reaction must have been somewhat funny to Ethera, as she let out a tiny snort of amusement in between the soft hisses she was making. I offered the bottle to her, to smell as well, which she took, her reaction to the odor even more pronounced than mine was. I took it back off of her, trying to coordinate myself in between my laughs at her expense. I put out two glasses, half filling each, not wanting to overdo it, especially since it was likely she wouldn't like it. Whiskey isn't exactly the best drink to be starting off with if you haven't had any before.

"You want me to drink it?" She asked, slightly incredulous, sounding unsure if I was serious or not.

"You don't have to. Just there if you want to try it. It tastes like shit, just warning you."

"Then why would you drink it?" She asked, probing further. I think having the conversation helped take her mind slightly off of Astrith and Hettie, possibly.

"As I said, it's like a drug. It makes you feel a little bit more relaxed, I guess. Just don't have too much. It just makes you a little looser in general, I guess. But don't have too much, otherwise you start losing control of yourself, a little. " I continued, trying my best to summarize. It wasn't an easy question to answer, why would you drink something you don't particularly like the taste of? Maybe because it was banned under Advent, it made you want to try it more I guess. "You don't have to have it."

"I like the sound of being a little more relaxed." She responded, with a slight shrug. I handed over one of the half-filled glasses, watching her tongue flick out gently to try and 'smell' it once more. She didn't recoil as much this time at least.

"Cheers," I announced, raising my glass towards her. She looked at me, confused with the gesture, before raising her own in response. She didn't touch the glasses together like I would expect a human to, but I didn't particularly feel like correcting it at this point. I tipped back the drink into my mouth quickly, emptying the glass and placing it down, letting the bitter drink burn my throat. My body shuddered and my head shook at the taste of the strong alcohol, causing another small laugh from Ethera. She followed suit, drinking her drink as well, though not quite as quickly. Her head moved backward away from the drink after she had finished, a grimace playing across her face.

"Eurgh, that tastes awful. You humans have some weird habits." She complained, sticking out her tongue as if trying to get rid of the taste slightly. I simply responded with a small shrug and an attempted smirk, knowing full well there wasn't a way for me to defend it.

"Hey...listen. I've heard the rumors now I've been on board the ship, I thought I should let you know. Kassara had already told us that you had spared her life when she was a prisoner here," She started, having a let a small silence hang in between us briefly. She seemed to have been playing with the thought of telling me whatever it was she was going to now for a short while, considering whether she should or not. "But she didn't tell us about the time she came to you seeking to mate. The point is, thank you, for treating our kind with respect, even when it hasn't been earned. It's easier to say this now after Kassara told us how she felt, but you're one of the good ones. I wish more humans were the way you are. We all owe you an apology, for how we treated you, even if we didn't mean it the way it could have been taken. Well...I suppose I owe you that apology. I don't think Ava wanted to...and well, you know about the others. So, sorry." She gushed, repeatedly breaking and re-making eye contact with me as she tried to spit out the words, seeming to struggle somewhat to make sense of them herself.

It seemed a little automatic, I didn't find myself thinking twice as I brought myself to my knees and moved towards her slowly, watching as she eyed me curiously for a second. I opened my arms, giving her a second to take the invitation of a hug. But she only stared back with a questioning look. Ah, I forgot, Vipers didn't really 'hug' others, did they? I pushed myself forwards more, my eyes level with hers as she was coiled on the floor, and put my arms to her back, pulling her into my body. She caught on quickly, her arms also finding their way to my back, even if she seemed a little unsure of where to place them, and allowing herself to be pulled into the hug. Even though she had the armor on, it wasn't too uncomfortable, as I felt her press against me, my arms now wrapped fully around her. It took her a moment, but her arms also grasped around my back, and suddenly I could feel myself being pulled back into her. I felt her head lower against my shoulder, her hood brushing up against my neck, as she began to squeeze me tighter. Very quickly, I could hear small sobs coming from beside me as she started to cry again, now within my embrace. I moved one of my hands up above her armor, and rubbed gently against the base of her neck, to the side of her armor, just where the hood start, it just felt a little more natural.

"I just miss them, Zero. I miss them so much." She wept into me, her voice cracking. I could feel a singular teardrop fall onto my shoulder as she clutched into me.

"I know," I whispered back to her. "I know."


	21. Chapter 21

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 21:36 EST, 05/20/2035, Location: Unknown)

Well, as my fears had been proved, Bradford had indeed called me in to talk to the Commander. I was headed up to the control room now, dreading the worst. Where would I go if they removed me from the ship? I could go settle down with one of the resistance camps back in America, maybe. Now I had a lot of practice with guns I could actually help to protect them. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, it would be pretty relaxed, I think. But it wouldn't be with Brick, it wouldn't be with the people I liked with, and I think at this point, most importantly it wouldn't be with Kassara.

Ethera was a little better before I left her, I think she needed to have a good cry about what happened. She really did love both Hettie and Astrith as sisters. Not in the same way that Kass would also call them sisters, but in the way I would call my parents family. Maybe it helped give her a little bit of closure, I don't know. I found myself thinking back to my parents, I hadn't seen them for ages now, it must be coming up to around 3 years since I had left. The Matriarch's idle threats played again in my head. That she knew who they were, that Advent had gone to do…something to them. Maybe with her here now I could actually get some answers. If I could stay on the ship, anyway.

I approached the control center, the bright blue hologram of the globe visible through the window leading up to the door. It looked a lot more 'full' than the last time I caught a glimpse of it, there were a few more odd colors that filled out some of the parts of Americas, and a little of Africa. I suppose that may be the different resistance factions, or at the very least information provided by them. I tried to open the door, only to find it locked, stopping me from entering completely. I must have looked a little lost, because that's how I felt. It didn't really look like one of the doors you tended to knock on, it just opened usually, so if I couldn't enter, what could I do?

I waited for about half a minute, trying to peer into the room to see if I could see anyone, but it didn't really allow for me to do that. The door flew open, Bradford standing in its frame, his eyes already set on mine.

"Zero, thank you for coming. Head on in, the Commander has just finished with a call from the resistance leaders." He nodded, speaking monotonously. He knew about the situation I was in, certainly, he had heard it over the comms, but I couldn't tell if he thought any differently of me because of it. He was a hard book to read. He just stared at me with the same authoritative look he always wore.

I headed in, glancing around briefly at all screens that made up the room, operators at every console. The small sounds of the computers being used made up a fairly pleasant ambient noise for the room, but it didn't help to ease my thoughts very much. As far as I was concerned, I could easily be being dropped from X-Com here.

"Zero," The Commander called out to me, snapping my attention away from the rest of the room to him. "Follow me. We'll have a little more privacy to speak over the other side of the room." He said, leading me away from the bright blue globe that illuminated the side of his face. It only highlighted the stern look on his face, and definitely only made me more concerned about how angry he was about this. Leading me to the far side, there again more consoles, and a couple of desks with monitors on the walls beside them, but all were empty, allowing us just to talk between us. He pulled out one of the seats from one of the desks, sliding the chair over to me on its wheels.

"Sit."

I obeyed his words, spinning the chair around for me to sit on, and waited for him to get a chair for himself, but Bradford seemed to remain standing.

"So, Zero, you know why I've asked to talk to you, I assume." He asked. I responded with a small nod, before he continued. "Obviously it's quite worrying about what happened. And it's left me and Bradford in a predicament about what we need to do about it. I thought it would be best to shed some light on the situation and give you a chance to explain what happened, since all we currently have to go off of is the Matriarch's version of events of what happened, and both you and Kassara's seeming agreement to her story."

I stared at him, dubious as to why he was giving me a chance to explain. Maybe I had a chance to actually defend myself, but I didn't know how I could ever phrase it to make it not look how it was. Because, in all honesty, it looked pretty bad. Now I just had to think of how I could even phrase it to prevent the worst from happening. Bradford was still standing above me, not making the issue any easier, as the Commander waited for me to start explaining.

"Where do you want me to start?"

"What happened." He answered quickly, there was barely any time in between my question and his response. I tried to swallow my nerves, tried to calm myself down even momentarily. It reminded me of how nervous I was at interviews back in Advent. You were being studied scrupulously by a person that held the power on whether you made it or not in their hands. It was terrifying.

"It was the Blacksite mission. Deadbolt fell asleep during it, and Kassara noticed that before I did. She attacked me, I think she figured out we were out of the range of the cameras." I started, pausing in between each sentence, I managed to escape and grabbed my rifle, and I gave her a chance to explain why I shouldn't shoot her. She wasn't attacking me, she had stopped, I would have shot her otherwise."

"Why did you not shoot her straight away though?" Bradford asked, his arms folded across his chest. To say it was intimidating was a slight understatement.

"…By the time I had the weapon, she wasn't a threat anymore." I shrugged, trying to rake my mind back through the situation. It made me slightly uneasy to think back to it, back to what had happened. It was different than before, where it felt wrong to think back to the undressed alien because it was unnatural, and sick to think of an alien in that light. This was a different kind of wrong, it wasn't out of disgust that my mind didn't want me to recall it. It was more out of a respect for Kassara, for a friend, that I shouldn't be thinking about her naked, whether recalling memories or just imagining things in my head.

"I think she was remorseful," I followed up, the detail coming back to my head not long after I had given my initial reasoning. "She said she was sorry when she was trying to kill me. I think she saw it as a last resort, and opportunity, and didn't actually want to kill me. I think that may have had a part to play in it as well."

"You got on with her at the time?" The Commander asked this time, before Bradford could continue his line of questioning.

"Yes. Brick and I were the only two she would really talk to. I think she got on okay with Vandal and Deadbolt and a couple of others too." I responded automatically. I was still feeling pretty stressed, I could feel my heart beat away in my chest, and my tongue threaten to slip up on any of the words I was saying.

"Alright. So when the Matriarch said that she 'offered' herself to you…?"

"Yeah. When I asked her why I shouldn't shoot her she tried to do that." I said, trying to skip past talking too much about her that way. "I refused, I didn't want anything to do with her, especially not in that way."

"And then?" The Commander encouraged me to continue, his chin resting on the back of his knuckles as he leaned forward, propped up by his elbows on his knees. It was unnerving, to say the least, but I couldn't tell whether he was trying to analyze and see if I was telling the truth, or whether he was just listening.

"I used the medkit in the bathroom to fix up the wound I had made on her, to avoid attention being drawn to what had happened. And told her I wouldn't say anything, and that nobody else would give her a chance as I did." I recounted to finish off the story. After the last part had come out of my mouth, I couldn't really remember if I had actually said that to her or not, and a short wave of panic washed over me, in case the Commander had a way of finding out himself whether I had actually done what I have said or not.

"Why didn't you come to us and tell us what had happened, Zero? This is a serious breach of duty!" Bradford commented, waiting for me to finish before her burst out. "You could have put somebody else at huge risk, or even the whole ship. What if she would try it again with another guard and be successful?" He hypothesized, going over the possibilities of the repercussions. "She had already proved herself lethal and dangerous, or do you forget that she managed to kill an operative despite being outnumbered four to one."

"You would have killed her," I stated, any nervousness or doubt I may have shown whilst answering the other questions barren as I responded to this one. "Or sold her to the Black Market. She didn't deserve that. Not in the ways that I had heard."

"You're not the one to decide that." Bradford argued back, as the Commander raised a hand to silence him from his questions.

"We're going to review the CCTV footage from the evening, now that we have a date for it, in that case. We'll have to see if it matches up with your story." The Commander began. "I still don't know what we are going to do about this, even if what you say is true to the letter."

I looked at him, knowing full well that he was talking about a punishment for it. Bradford remained silent as the Commander got up, leaving the both of us just staring at each other as he talked to an operator, presumably to try and get the footage of the night in question over to one of the monitors near us. He sat back down gracefully, his finger tracing over his lip in thought.

"We can't very much kick you off, not without repercussions. I can't allow for actions like this that put the crew at risk to go unpunished, however." He spoke in a measured way, unnerving me more every second. I really felt like my future here at X-Com was being questioned, even with him saying he wasn't going to kick me off the ship. I could feel my nerves starting to get to me more and more as Bradford decided to pull up a chair as the Commander turned on the screen to our left, hung on the wall above the desk we were sat at, for us all to see. It showed two clips side by side being fast forwarded at the moment, the date flying past in the bottom right of the screen. It was obvious fairly quickly that the two clips were the cameras in the room, which covered most of the room, apart from the beds, just as Brick had expected.

We all watched in silence, both of them fixated on the screen ahead. All of me wanted to do anything but watch, but I didn't really have much say in it. The screen froze for a second, before it resumed, this time playing at a normal speed. It showed Deadbolt sat on the chair, slowly but surely nodding off in the chair. I was near the back on the right-hand side of the screen, half of me out of view of the camera as I stood near the wall. As I had explained, Deadbolt soon fell completely asleep, his head lulled off to one side. I stepped forward into shot not long after, my hands on the back of my head, an expression of disbelief play on my face. Within a second, I turned back around, and Kassara came into view for a brief second, her arm stretching into frame, wrapping around my mouth, my body animatedly flying out of view. I could see out of the corner of my eye as Bradford glanced over to me, I was trying desperately to ignore it as we sat watching what was now a still image, with only Deadbolt sat in the middle of the room, nothing else showing.

Just under half a minute passed before there was any more movement on the screen, as I rolled into frame, grabbing my rifle from the wall and aiming it towards where I had just come from. Admittedly, it looked very fluid, I kind of admired how well I operated under the stress of the situation. We could all see my body moving up and down as I tried to regain my breath, the lack of sound now infuriating as I spoke to Kassara. My stance seemed to break all of a sudden, as the video showed me turning away from her, with my hand out in front of me. I quickly moved off screen, transferring from one camera to another, and finally disappearing through the bathroom door. Bradford quickly used the small downtime to quiz me.

"Why didn't you just shoot her? You had obviously only just escaped at least being completely unconscious."

"I wanted to. A part of me told me not to. I guess I cared for her at that point and wanted to understand." I responded back with a shrug. Rewatching the cameras, even though it hardly showed much of what happened, it was sending my mind all the way back to the date, as if it happened within the last week. Admittedly, coming close to losing my life probably helped solidify it so much in my memory, but it was difficult to forget.

"And you shouldn't have left her alone with Deadbolt. She could have attacked him and done exactly the same thing. You put him at risk." The Commander added his observation, still looking at the footage, showing me leaving with something in hand. I disappeared off screen past the Viper for a brief moment, before moving back into view. She came into shot as she approached slightly, a shirt clutched to her chest, still obviously naked. The camera was a little far away, but everything not hidden behind her hands was pretty clear to see. I kneeled down as I attended to her tail wound, watching as she contorted in pain at the medikit. The Commander nodded, looking behind him briefly, enough of a signal that the footage stopped, frozen on Kassara in pain, clutching the shirt to her chest.

"Well, you were definitely telling the truth, as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't help much with answering what we should do with you." The Commander sighed. "Though, I appreciate what you did. You evaluated the situation and decided to try and help everyone involved, and not just take the easiest option. That doesn't mean you should have done it, the risk to yourself and Deadbolt was too great."

"I understand, I should have taken more precautions to keep him away from danger. Please let me stay at X-Com, I'm useful and have helped integrate Kassara into X-Com, and performed many vital missions. I spared her life because she didn't need to die. I couldn't report it, because she would end up being killed as well." I pleaded, conflict scattered across my thoughts. One side arguing that I had done the right thing, and I knew if I was placed back in that situation, I would do exactly the same thing every time. But the other side knew how much danger I could have potentially put X-Com in, how irresponsible my actions were. The Commander seemed to take my words into consideration, that or he was still thinking of the correct punishment for me. Bradford sat in silence also, holding his tongue until the Commander reached his verdict.

"It would be best to keep you away from other crew members for a short while, at the very least, as I'm unsure how they will react, and I can't have it getting in the way of missions coming up." He pondered aloud. He stood up from the table, Bradford following suit. As he started walking back towards the Hologlobe, I decided to also stand up, somewhat timidly following behind them, still unsure of my fate.

"Zero, I'm going to assign you down to Engineering, everyone knows they sure need the extra helping hand. Especially with the new orders coming in. And you can help Ash adjust to life on the Avenger with us, Kassara certainly can handle herself around everyone else. " He finally decided, turning around to face me, his hands held behind his back as he addressed me."You can probably expect not to be seeing any field time for a while, much less a promotion. At the very least, until this all blows over."

I didn't realize I could feel so crushed, yet so relieved at the same time. On the one hand, I wasn't going to be able to help as a soldier for X-Com, and that upset me, as that's where I knew I could help the most, it's what I've been trained to do. On the other, I'm glad I still had a place amongst the others on the ship, and a part of me was certainly looking forward to being able to spend some time with Ash. So I stood in front of him, confused about how to react, my cocktail of emotions probably more than visible to him.

"On top of that, I'm going to disallow you from doing any shifts with the Matriarch. It would be unwise to do so," he added on, with nods from Bradford agreeing with him to accompany. That made sense, I certainly couldn't argue with that. "That should be all, Zero. Dismissed. Shen will be expecting you down in Engineering at 'O' nine hundred hours' tomorrow morning. I'll also give you a room near the other Engineers, again to keep contact with others in the crew minimal. They have singular dorms, but they are tiny rooms. You should go and move your stuff down there now, Bradford can assist. Dismissed."

And so that was it. My fate sealed, I didn't bother putting up an argument to him. Part of me did want to stand up to him, tell him what I did was right. But I knew that that side would just have been spouting a bunch of nonsense at him, and it wouldn't have done me any good. In some respects, I got a good deal. At least, definitely considering some of the alternatives. Bradford was quick to show me out, snapping me out of my confused daze briefly to lead me away, heading back towards my current dorm. I felt really crushed now, due to the news of not being able to fight, but maybe I would feel better once I'd got a little rest and moved in. A nice early night's sleep ready for tomorrow is probably the best thing for me to do at this point. Thankfully, none of my roommates were there to see me move my stuff out, so there would be no having to awkwardly explain to Samurai that this is because I let Kassara live. Just moved silently, with little attention drawn to it. I picked up the last of my things, not that I had much, it was mostly just clothes and a couple of books I had already read through, chucked alongside my current bedding, to be transferred down. I just need to put my head down and press forward now. I was looking forward to speaking more with Ash, hopefully, she would make my time there a bit more bearable.

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 13:07 EST, 05/21/2035, Location: Unknown)

I opened the door to my Matriarch's cell room, watching as she grinned at me with interest, or a morbid curiosity, I couldn't place it, but she seemed excited to actually see me. Vandal quickly stopped me as he and Samurai passed, quickly telling me that he had seen Zero earlier and that he was still on the ship, before letting me and Twitch enter in their places, our turn to guard our new prisoner. It was certainly strange being this side of the bars, it looked so different than being within the cage itself. My Matriarch was curled up on the bed they provided, sitting in silence, for the time being, as Twitch took his place at the table and chairs on the other side of the room. I hadn't bothered picking up my extra armor pieces; the greaves and extra shoulder armor, there wasn't much point in it.

I had heard from Deadbolt this morning, when I went down for breakfast, that Zero had moved out of their accommodation, and nobody had seen him this morning, or at least when I last spoke to them. I had been fearing the worst, that Zero had been removed from the ship overnight, left to fend for himself. So the fact that Vandal told me that Zero was fine, I was relieved. More than relieved, if I was honest. I'd feel even guiltier than I already did about the whole situation if he had suffered so much for it. I can't say exactly how it was for Zero, but on my side, I had received more distrust from a lot of people, understandably so, but nobody really seemed to hold it particularly against me. Except for Goblin and Elena, as to be expected. It was a shame, I thought I had just started to win over both of them, and it felt like it was back to where it started, if not worse. Goblin blamed me for using Zero, for taking advantage of him, and a lot of talking about how we should have expected just as much from a 'Xeno'. I hadn't spoken to Elena, or heard anything about what she thought yet, and I wasn't particularly wanting to. It only reaffirmed what she already believed.

"Unit 19201648." My Matriarch interrupted my thoughts, drawing my attention to her. She was still lay furled on her bed, though it looked a little undersized for her needs. "It took me a while to remember that name, the first time I realized you fought for them. It's interesting to see you in person. The X-Com Viper." She began. I wasn't sure whether I should even give her the attention she wanted. It would be easier on both of us to just sit in silence for the entire thing. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, it all suddenly clicked into place, why so few of the soldiers even bothered speaking to me when I was a prisoner. I wanted to argue that this was different, that she was evil, but inside I knew I should show the same respect that Zero and Brick showed me when I was first a prisoner. To them, I was an Alien, a murderer, an enemy, and they still made the effort to speak to me and look after me. I should show the same courtesy, even if it felt wrong to do so.

"I don't use that name anymore. It's a reminder that I left who I was in Advent behind with Advent." I answered back, after the pause that had transpired between us.

"Yes, it's Kassara now, isn't it? 'Free'?" She remarked, giving a small sniff of amusement. "You aren't free. You're more imprisoned than ever, a slave to their ideology."

"I made my choice. It was the right thing to do. Living under Advent leaves you blind to what they actually do." I responded back, taking my place on the chair opposite Twitch. There was a chess set on the table, I presume to help keep us occupied, it must have been a recent addition because I don't remember it being there during my short time here. The Matriarch seemed to pause for a bit, so I turned to Twitch, placing my hand on one of the white plastic pawns on my side of the board, offering him a game. He nodded, so I moved forward the pawn I had my fingers on, starting the game between us.

"And living here won't make you blind to what they do? They're terrorists, Kassara. They are here to kill others and instill fear. You're a fool if you think otherwise."

"That's pretending Advent doesn't do exactly the same thing. They're tyrannical. I watched them send dropship to exterminate a group of people who didn't even have weapons, they just lived outside of the city centers." I fired back calmly, watching Twitch make his move. I hadn't played much of the game, but I had been placed on patrol around a park with several glass sets just sitting there for people to play with, during one of my times guarding in a city. One of the better cities I had patrolled in, to be honest. It was a little confusing at first, but I watched people playing it from there on out, almost continuously for the 4-week duration there, and gradually it made more and more sense.

"The resistance camp raids? They are terrorists, they need to be killed otherwise it's the people within Advent that suffer! Do you not understand? Those are the people that join up with X-Com."

"Then explain the people that go missing within Advent territories. Those two that I saved from a resistance attack, they were processed anyway, weren't they? They went missing after being taken by an Advent ship. We've seen the black site, we've heard what the gene clinics do. Don't act as if Advent isn't purposely killing its own population too." I angrily retaliated, still not moving to look at her from my chess game. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction so readily that she had my entire attention. Because she didn't.

"It's not something I can avoid. Trust me, it's the last thing I want for the human race, but it's part of the Elder's plan, it's for the greater good. If it could be avoided, it wouldn't be happening. But that's the cost of being under the Elders. The humans benefit from it overall; within Advent so much had been achieved." She made her excuses, not seeing the irony of it all.

"You want to claim that the terrorists are killing people when it's the Elders who kill more. We would make the same advances with or without Advent if we put everything our races has to offer together. Advent just kills in their name for the sake of control and order. They kill to instill fear. And you want me to accept that it's better than a bunch of terrorists. It's not. Don't pretend you care about humans."

"You sound just like one of these extremists. They've brainwashed you so well..." She sighed, as if the entire point of her talking to me was to try and 'rescue' me from the vices of these people.

"She is one of these extremists," Twitch interjected. "And she's not the only Viper onboard the Avenger. Or the only Viper to resist your rule. It's not just humans that are angry with how Advent treats those in their cities." He proceeded to move his bishop to take my rook, placing it delicately on the side of the table, earning a hiss of frustration from me. I'd been paying too much attention to my mother that I had missed a blatantly obvious trap that he set for me.

"If that was what she actually thought, and not just repeating what she heard. She's chasing the one you call 'Zero', though. She's infatuated with him." She slyly teased, knowing that at least this would get my attention. I snapped around to her, anger starting to boil up inside of me at her words, dismissing me so readily. She was currently stood by the bars, watching me intently. A small smile reached her face as she saw me paying my attention to her properly.

"I'm not chasing him. Despite what's happened between us, both of us have made it clear that we want nothing of the sort from one another." I disputed. "He means a lot to me, yes, but not in that way. He's a good friend to me. The same as many others on the ship."

"Tell me, 1648, have you heard of 'Stockholm syndrome'?"She asked.

"No?"

"Stockholm syndrome is a psychological effect recorded by humans, it establishes that it's a defense mechanism for a captive to develop feelings for their captor in order to survive. It's not that unreasonable to suggest that this could have happened to you, you know."

"I don't have your 'Stockholm syndrome'. I had my chance to abandon and return to Advent. I barely even considered it." I retorted, angered at the insinuation of her comment.

"Exactly, that's part of the syndrome. It's really well documented, I'd recommend you have a read of it some time." She grinned. There it was, her human facsimile of a smile. I couldn't explain it, but just the way she spoke, the way she looked, it had my interest in what she was saying for just that little bit before I thought about dismissing it again. This was her game, wasn't it, to play with me. I needed to ignore her. I focused back on the chess game, taking my turn as Twitch had been waiting for me for a short while.

"I don't like him in that way. He's just a soldier here." I finally responded quietly, hearing her hands leave the bars, and the springs of her bed as she went back to lying on top of it.

"Whatever you say. But I don't know many who would infiltrate a prison complex on their own to rescue a soldier on their own accord. Unless you were forced to, of course."

"I wasn't forced to, it was my idea." I clarified, waiting for her response for the verdict. Thankfully, the door swung open, before she could start her sentence. I whirled around quickly to face the soldier who had entered; it was Zero. He shot me a quick wave as he came in, walking past the bars of the jail, standing over the chess table.

"Hey, guys. Glad I was able to find you Kass, Vandal said you'd be in here." He greeted, though he sounded kind of down, I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

"Yeah, it's nice to see you Zero," I warmly returned. "I hadn't seen you since yesterday, and the others said you had moved out of your dorm. I was worried that they had got rid of you..."

"Yeah, I thought that was what was going to happen for a bit too. They've put me down in Engineering for the time being with Shen and Ash. I'm just having a small break now before I head to lunch with Ash." He explained, giving a short shrug. "Is she behaving?"

"Probably being more cooperative at the moment than I was." I replied playfully, earning a quick laugh from him.

"So you mean she's trying to not get shot then? I'm impressed." He smiled, brushing his hands quickly through his messy hair. "Have you spoken to Bradford yet then?"

"No, I haven't been told anything about it. I don't think they're going punish me for it, I didn't exactly 'break' any rules, spoken or unspoken. Are you stuck in Engineering completely or are you able to come up whenever?" I shrugged. I hoped that I wasn't going to get called in to speak to them, anyway. The Commander was still a little scary to me, I hadn't really seen much of him. I didn't really want to at the moment.

"Don't know. As long as I'm helping Shen when she needs it, I guess. I'm mostly just hanging around with Ash until I get my bearings, at least. She's really fit in well there, you know. They work together pretty well, Shen and Ash. I don't understand half the stuff they talk about though, but they get on super well." He grinned. "And now she's out of her shell a bit more, she's been good fun to talk to otherwise. You should join us for lunch, or dinner if you're still on duty for lunch."

I couldn't explain it, but I could feel something in me twist a little at his words, not too dissimilar to the feeling I had when I watched him with Olivia. I quickly pushed the thought out of my head, trying not to focus on it much.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan." I agreed, moving my next piece in the chess game I was in the middle of playing. Twitch was certainly getting the upper hand on me, but I still had both of my bishops and knights, along with a rook, whereas he had lost his bishop and his queen so far. It was still winnable, but at the moment it looked like an uphill battle. I watched as Zero turned away from our game, walking up to the bars to see the Matriarch. I turned my attention away from Twitch, watching him intently, seeing what he would do. He stood in silence, for the time being, probably marveling at the fact that he could see his captor locked up. I remembered back to the wounds I saw on him when I rescued him; they were horrific. I'm sure that was exactly what was going through his mind right now.

"Are you just gonna stare at me then?" She asked him, obviously irritated by his presence there.

"Just remembering why this cell is such a fitting place for you is all. I hope you give me a reason to kill you. Any of us a reason. Cause you and I both know you deserve it."

"Can I not use my body to talk my way out of it?" She mocked, putting on a flirtatious tone as she did so, appealing to him with a real look of desperation. It was such a clean expression, I knew that Zero could understand it perfectly. I always wanted to have such convincing facial expressions, it was something Vipers just didn't do naturally. Zero didn't give her the attention she wanted, turning away from her whilst shaking his head.

"Definitely glad I'm not allowed to be a guard. I wouldn't be able to stand to look at the person who spent the best part of 4 days assaulting me. Not for such a length of time, anyway. I should probably get back to Engineering, Ash will be waiting for me." He quipped to me. I pushed myself off of the seat, briefly stopping the game of chess with Twitch to say my goodbyes to Zero. As I stood up, he offered his arms out, and I automatically accepted his hug, just a short hug that lasted less than a second, but it meant everything. It was very much a hug that said 'I care for you', if nothing else.

"Hugging you in your armor isn't that comfortable," He gave a quick grin afterward.

"I'll take it off for the hug, next time." I responded back, watching him raise an eyebrow in response, a smirk playing on his face. I quickly continued with an excuse, realizing my verbal blunder, not meaning anything by it initially, since I would have my black top on underneath, of course. "Sorry, I've obviously been spending too much time around Ruby."

"Should have guessed. I'll see you later, hopefully." He smiled, making his way out, giving a quick wave as he left back out through the door. I sat back down to the chess game with Twitch, focusing now on trying to secure a win against ever-increasing odds. He knew he had the advantage and was making sure to press it. My Matriarch didn't bother interrupting us, as we spent the next 10 minutes finishing the game, as pieces from both sides continuously left the board, but unfortunately not quite at a favorable enough rate for me to recover. Once he finally took my queen, it was inevitable that I would lose. I hissed in joking frustration as he grinned at me, uttering the cursed word of 'checkmate'.

"Well played, you make a formidable adversary!" He teased, standing up, and starting to collect the pieces, placing them back on the board in the correct order. "But you'll never be a match for me."

"I'll have to give you another game when I'm not going to be bitter about losing twice in a row," I said with a smile. I started helping put the pieces back on the board, though I always got the order of the king and queen messed up. I could never remember if the queen went on her own color or not. Twitch quickly corrected the order I had placed them, earning an eye roll from me.

"You like it here because you actually get to live as an individual, isn't it?" My Matriarch called back out from her cell. "Get to talk to people, not just guard stuff."

"It's a small part of the reason, yes." I agreed, giving it some thought before I responded. "But not the whole reason."

"Zero's the other reason."

"For the last time, he's not. It because Advent needs to be removed if we want to progress. Not even Vipers are 'free', nobody is." I sighed, almost done with her repetitive arguments, always going back to hanging onto the idea that I was tempted onto the other side by a human.

"Alright, maybe 'a'-nother reason. You like him, it's so obvious." She shrugged. She still lay coiled up on the bed, her elbows resting on her curled tail, helping prop her head up to talk to me. "And yes, in that way, is what I mean. You must have at least given it some thought, or are you actually living in that much denial?"

"Look, I'm not sure if you picked up the second rumor, but Zero and I had a little misunderstanding when I got drunk and came onto him. We both agreed afterward that we didn't share any feelings. He was adamant about it to me, and I shared his feelings on the matter." I crossed my arms, approaching her cell.

"Alcohol? Where have you got that, it's been banned for 20 years! There was a reason that was banned!" She hissed, pushing herself up from her coils. "It's... besides my point, though. Whatever you two said to each other, you both lied. You're lying to yourself if you are saying you don't want something more from him. The way you looked at him, the way you reacted when he talked about spending time with someone else, hell, the way you got up and decided to give him a hug. Are you blind to yourself? The humans may not be able to read you that well, but I can, Kassara."

I was taken aback, finding myself unable to respond to the sudden outburst from her. Was I that easy to read? Did I really come across that way to her? If she could tell, somebody else would be able to, right? What if Zero noticed? Questions flew through my head faster than I could reasonably answer them. I thought back to the warmth I had felt burn inside me so strongly on the night I had cuddled with him, or our moment together, just sitting comforting one another in the broken ride. Was that warmth what my matriarch referred to, as wanting something more from him?

"Kass, ignore her, she's just messing with you." Twitch came over, placing a hand on my arm, his touch quickly bringing me back to the present.

"I'm not trying to. That's genuinely how she feels. Look at her hesitate. It's because she knows she loves Zero, but she's hidden it so far down that she doesn't even realize it." She laughed. "And the best part is he's done exactly the same. I'd say she's in more denial that he is."

"Then why are you telling her this?" He questioned, skeptical of her. I was too busy trying to process what she was saying. If what she was saying was true, he felt the same way to me as I did to him? My mind thought of the possibility of us becoming closer, what it even meant. Ash talked about dating as spending more time together, but that didn't exactly sound that plausible if he was stuck in Engineering now.

"He's the reason she's part of X-Com. As soon as the novelty is over, once she has him, she'll realize that he's just like every other human she's met. The only ones interested with Vipers in that sort of way just like them because we look attractive. And Zero does find her attractive. All it takes is to look at where he's looking when he came into the room. He was all over her." She shrugged. "She'll know once they go out that it was a mistake. You are all terrorists, you don't really care about her, other Vipers. She's just another victim in their war on peace. She'll be killed along with all the other aliens, should you ever get close to dethroning Advent." She spoke with conviction, it was really what she believed. I realized instantly, that she didn't know anything. I remembered all the preconceptions about X-Com I had when I was first captured. She would be exactly the same way, if not worse. My indecisiveness about Zero was suddenly wiped away, she just saw another human treating me like an actual being, and is taking that to be something more. Maybe. She didn't know what he was like, she just knew he was a terrorist. She had no way of knowing what he thought about me.

"It's alright, I'm ignoring her," I reassured Twitch, straightening up slightly, and turning away from her. "Let's have another game of chess, you can go first this time."

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 15:20 EST, 05/21/2035, Location: Unknown)

"Hold here please," Shen ordered, waiting for me to grab onto the bottom plate of the new set of armor we had been spending the last couple of hours creating. It was a little slower than Shen would have liked with so much staff, but she talked me through the process of shaping the metal alloy, which she set me to work alongside Ash with to create each individual plate to fit onto the armor, each a slightly different specification, so they had to be made carefully. Now she was busy welding each of the pieces together, using me to hold everything in place, with special thermo-resistant gloves, which were thick, heavy, and ran halfway up my arm.

"So you went up to visit the Matriarch earlier?" Ash asked, her voice barely heard above the welder, as the sparks jumped in front of the helmet I was wearing. "What was she like?"

"As awful as I remember. I want nothing to do with her." I grunted my response. "Meeting your captor on the other side of the bars, it makes you think things you never really want to think. For all the times she did something to hurt me, I wanted to do something back there, just standing in front of her. A part of me wanted her to suffer like I did."

"Sorry, Zero." Ash apologized. "I wouldn't want to be in your situation. I'm thankful I never ended up going to-"

"Hold here." Shen interrupted, focusing on the word. She was really dedicated to doing this exceptionally, it was as if she completely tuned out the conversation around her. I wouldn't doubt it, that's for sure. I shifted my hands, holding onto the next plate down whilst she got to work attaching the rest, watching the sparks fly in front of my face once more.

"I'm thankful I didn't end up in prison. You know, you hear jokey sort of stories about that sort of thing, but you never really question how true they are until it's you." She completed her sentence. I glanced over to her briefly, she was tinkering away with one of the Gremlins, she had asked Shen to allow her to work on it in the downtime between the armor and guns, as a sort of pet project. I think Shen saw something similar in Ash that she had in herself, that little bit of inspiration to make a change, but whatever the case, she let her fiddle away, decommissioning one of the Gremlins we had for her to work on. She had almost completely disassembled the thing, the four levitation pads completely removed from the thing as she messed with the circuitry inside.

"Any luck with that?" I asked, absentmindedly, trying my best to focus on holding the plate relatively still at the same time. Multi-tasking was not my strongest suit.

"Uh...maybe something. I know they rigged the one Gremlin with a transmitter to be able to send back footage to the Commander. I was wondering if I could use similar technology to transmit data from a field Gremlin to the other troops. Short range transmitter, maybe paired with a long-range one. I don't really know what you can do it, but I'm sure there's an advantage to be had here."

"Hmm..." Shen paused for a second, stopping the welding job, but obviously hadn't finished the plate yet. "I could work on something, but it would require setting up a computer simulation to run within the Gremlin. I'll need Tygan's help..unless you are able to do it."

"What are you thinking?" Ash asked.

"Get a map surveyor code set up in the Gremlin, analyzing the terrain as a hexagonal lattice, and transmitting the data to all the soldiers through some sort of visual aid, so they can all see an effective map." Shen began to theorize, thinking out loud more than anything. Her free hand brushed against the bottom of the helmet she wore, as she remained leaning against the work table, above the armor I was still having to hold in place. It wasn't exactly heavy, but my arms were starting to ache ever so slightly at having to hold it in place. "The Commander could use this to assist in the movement of people. We could possibly make it even interactive from within the control room so each individual would be able to see a hexagon highlight in a color, telling them where they need to move, even which targets to shoot. It would make us more efficient on the battlefield with enough practice."

I was completely taken aback by how quickly the idea had come into her head, she had spent barely any time thinking about the possibility that Ash provided her with, and it sounded completely plausible, granted I only knew a little about what they were on about.

"I could probably help with the code. I used to study Computer sciences, I could probably recall something, it was only a few years back." I offered. Ash's face lit up at the sound of the plan coming together, her viper-like smile in stark contrast to the Matriarch's expression I had been looking at just a few hours prior.

"I'll ask the Commander what he thinks about the idea. He may pass on it, but I have a feeling if we can get this implemented in record times, we really have something to show off about, you know." Shen announced back. I could hear the fact she was grinning, but behind her mask, it was impossible to tell.

"I'll try and check out the frequency calibrations of the stuff we can put into the Gremlins. Check out the combination of sending short-range communications and long-range as well." Ash volunteered, moving away from the Gremlin carcass she left on the table, as she went to the other side of the lab to fetch whatever it was she was looking for, I assume. Shen returned to welding the next piece on, the last one to finish the main piece of this armor. She worked on the extra parts to each set, and worked on the gun whilst Ash and I shaped the plates, usually, at least until the suits of armor were completely finished, since we were finishing the armor sets faster than the guns, which was understandable, I think the guns were way more complicated anyway.

I got back to work in shaping the plates for the next piece of armor, using the machinery that Shen had littered around to go about bending and cutting the alloy for the next 20 minutes, getting through half of the necessary plates before I could hear Ash calling out to both of us.

"Shen! Zero! Come and see this, it's important!" She yelled, glancing from the screen above her over towards us repeatedly from the other side of the lab. I shrugged, shutting down the thermal cutter I was using, and aking my way over with Shen, to see what the issue was. On the screen in front of her was a small map of the North American continent, with a small blue blip repeatedly blinking on the west side of the continent, though more near the middle than near the coast.

"What are looking at?"

"A signal being sent on a very specific frequency with a particular polarity. It doesn't overlap into the net nearby 0.03 hertz, that's how accurate I'm talking about. There's so little chance it's been found by anything else. There's some sort of message to go with it, but it's too fractured to piece together this far away, we would need to go closer to get a better signal. But I think it's important, the type of transmitters that could broadcast across such a defined frequency range is usually military standard or higher. It could be some sort of secret base from Advent, you know. We should at least check it out." She explained excitedly, giving us a quick synopsis of what she found. Shen looked at the diagram herself, fiddling with a few buttons on the console. The volume of the data became louder, the scrambled message breaking between white noise and some sort of woman's voice, with a notable European accent, it sounded German maybe. But nothing clear came from the signal, only ever the odd word.

"There's something else here..." She paused, fiddling with the controls again. "Same frequency, it's interfering with the first. If we reduce the radar range, we should get a clearer signal on the first." She murmured under her breath. Gradually, the signal started to fade away, the sound reducing to nothing fairly quickly.

"It's a message?" I asked, watching as a black screen popped up on Shen's command console, but no message came up.

"No...it's an emergency signal. No details with it though. We should perform a scan in the area, so what we can get. I'll let the Commander know. Good find, Ash." She grinned, typing again into the console as she sent a message up to the Control Center for them to read. The location didn't seem to be far away from where I thought we were, so we should arrive there in a couple of hours. We returned to doing our work, casually chatting to each other as proceeded to complete another two pieces of armor, and another gun, meaning we were now 3/4 done with the armor order, and just under half way with the guns. I'm glad I was able to lend a hand, even if it was more because I was forced to by Bradford. It was probably for the best.

When I last spoke to Brick, it wasn't exactly the most comfortable conversation to have with her. She said that she was upset that I couldn't rely on her, that I should have told her or something. Apparently pointing out that she let out our other secret wasn't the correct thing to do, which just made her more upset with me than anything. It was a relatively short lunch, let's just say. Not everyone was exactly upset with me, I would say most people understood what had happened, and understood why I did what I did, but for others, the trust they had in me just wasn't so much anymore. I think other than Goblin, Elena and Samurai, who I think would dislike me the most for what happened, Deadbolt, Venom, and Angel all seemed to be avoiding me a little, not that I particularly blame them either.

And Ash was fun to talk to. She'd told me a few anecdotes about her time in Advent, mostly talking about her workplace and the times they had messed something up, resulting in a temporary outage of the network across South Africa, only for a few seconds, but the results were a little interesting. Said she never saw the guy responsible for it again after that, and said he had been fired, but my mind jumped to a slightly different conclusion. She also spoke a bit about people noticing that her scales were a different color, and getting odd looks from humans and vipers alike. And how she had been asked by a human to go out with him, which she told the story of whilst laughing the entire time, breaking into bursts of small hisses after every few words.

An incoming call on the screen quickly filled the room with the steadying ringing sound, interupting our small talk and letting Shen know someone needed her attention away from the next piece of armor. We quietened down so we could overhear the call. They had already done the patrol; apparently, they found an old pre-contact Skyranger that must have crashed and been lost to the years. But it also had some sort of cargo there that we should take a look at. So Shen went up to the Hangar, dragging one of the other Engineers with her, returning less than 3 minutes later, each with a bag in their arms, which they placed onto then spilled out onto the table. Shen excitedly darted around the table, pulling out various weapons from the bags as we all marveled at what was in front of us on the desk.

One of the four weapons immediately caught my eye, a silvered weapon, it looked almost like one of the old-world crossbows I had seen in one of the museums Advent had erected in one of the nearby cities. The weapon had a large spike in the middle of the weapon, attached to a large barrel, with two arms either side of the spike, both curled slightly back towards the main body. The trigger was underneath, so unlike the crossbow, which you held horizontally, this would be held with the arms facing vertically. It looked pretty, to say the least. I could hear Ash beside me let out a small 'wow' under her breath, as she picked up the pistol, the next weapon I had looked at. It also looked like it was a weapon resurrected from the past, a small pistol almost half the size of the ones I wielded otherwise, with a rounded grip.

The first of the other two weapons that lay on the table was a set of two axes almost the size of my torso, the blades looked sharper than any sword I had seen a ranger wielding, yet Shen commented on them being oddly light, for what they were. The final weapon was a small blue grenade, it was cold to the touch, and seemed to slowly leak a clear blue gas out of it. The weapons looked like relics from some sort of cursed temple, it was a little overwhelming.

"Oh, I am going to have so much fun testing these." She annotated, grinning to herself. "They must have been trying to retrieve these weapons for the others to use at the other signal. It was an X-Com Skyranger, maybe the signal is from the old X-Com group, maybe we have some more resistance fighters just waiting for us to help them!" She continued excitedly.

"That ship was over 20 years old, right? What's the chance that there are actually people waiting for us, Shen?" I asked, trying to apply what we knew to the situation, at the expense of annoying her by putting a dampener on the small theory she had quickly cooked up.

"No...you're right, I shouldn't be too hopeful. But these weapons...I think they are important. There's a reason it was the only cargo on board that ship. "They may just be special enough to be able to help us in our fights, you know."

"What makes you think that?" Ash asked. "They are old weapons, sure they look cool, but what we have today is going to be miles better than anything they could have made 20 years back."

"20 years back my father was working on building plasma-infused weaponry for X-Com, he was working on genetic therapy of the soldiers of X-Com. Trust me when I say this, but we were ahead 20 years back. Something from that time could easily help us out." She said with determination. "That, and we have a grenade that is cold. It's probably filled with some sort of refrigerant, I expect it probably erupts in a severely endothermic but violent reaction once exposed to air. It's probably a bomb that will literally instantly freeze an enemy solid. Imagine it!"

"Shen, that doesn't even sound possible. I'm not an Engineer and I'm fairly sure that there isn't a reaction out there that does that."

"Only one way to find out, right?" She said confidently, a huge grin splayed across her face. I shot Ash a slight look of concern, one she gave back immediately, but we certainly weren't going to stop her.

* * *

 _AN:_

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	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

(Captain 'Kassara', 10:51 EST, 05/22/2035, Location: Unknown)

This morning had been fairly uneventful, even with an early wake up for me. I decided to go to the gym for a bit, slipping out of my dorm silently past Brick and the two female soldiers, I believe both had earned their first promotions now, so were both squaddies. It was my first time going to the gym, so I didn't exactly know what to do. Stepping through the doors at what must have been around 8 in the morning, the only other person in the gym was Goblin, wearing a sleeveless top, showing off his form to me. His eyes glanced over towards me as I entered, and he quickly left shortly after he finished the exercise he was doing on the machine he was on. It was all a bit obvious he didn't want my company, but aside from the dirty look he shot me, he hadn't decided to react to my presence.

So after an hour and a bit of trying to figure out the various machines and weights in the room on my own, I decided to give it a break. I should go back down with Brick on another day and she could give me some pointers, other than just letting me do my own thing. I headed down to the cafeteria to get my breakfast, ending up sitting alongside Deadbolt, Vandal, and Echo. We had just been idly chatting to each other, a lot to do with my Matriarch and what her capture meant for Advent, for X-Com, along with further speculation of what life was like inside Advent. I feel like Echo was kind of trying to tune me out, I couldn't tell if she was also upset at the recent happenings that everyone now knew or not. I couldn't tell with her usually anyway, so there's no difference there.

"And have you seen the Troopers helmets? I don't know how they can see out of those things. The visor bit at the front looks so dark I'm surprised they can still aim." Vandal commented, bringing me back to the present and out of my head.

"Well, they can aim better than Deadbolt here," I heard Zero from behind me. I turned around to follow the sound of his voice, seeing him approaching with Ash in tow, waving briefly at me, beaming from ear to ear. He took a seat next to me at the table we were sat, Ash sitting the other side of him. "Maybe he should try wearing one of their helmets, you know, see if it improves his aim."

"Pfft, I doubt I'd shoot any better if I couldn't see. Maybe if you gave me a larger mag and a hair trigger and watch me work my magic with one of their helmets then!" He joked, grinning widely at Zero in return.

"Maybe they don't aim using their eyes. I remember what they looked like under their helmets, I wouldn't be surprised if they could locate you through their hearing." Vandal continued, earning a few chuckles from all of us.

"What like a bat? Do you reckon they make little squeaks to see where you are whilst you're fighting?" Echo joined in, laughing along with the group. "That's terrifying"

"No, like a T-Rex, so if you stand still they can't see you. We should tell the Commander immediately of this revelation. We've solved the war!" Vandal quipped. I shook my head at their jokes, all whilst a stupid smile played upon my face, which I was unable to wipe off.

"So, how's things up in Engineering?" Echo asked Zero and Ash, taking the conversation away from fighting. "Has Zero been carrying his weight down there?". I saw Zero glance towards Ash, as if expecting her to answer, but she hesitated for a second, seeming to swallow before she answered.

"Yeah, we're making good progress, I think," She started. "We've had to make 20 new sets of armor and modify 20 of the guns for the Liberated, we're most of the way through them as it stands, and Zero has been speeding up that process. But with the last expedition out, I think we might end up helping Shen with the testing of the weapons and figuring out what makes them so special."

"They are special weapons? They looked like they were just somewhat fancy ornamental stuff at best when we picked them up. "Deadbolt questioned.

"Well, yes. We don't know yet though. The grenade that we were given seems to have some sort of instantly reacting refrigerant in it. Imagine throwing an explosive fire grenade, like...what do you call it...a Molotov? If I remember the correct word for it. It's like a Molotov but cold" She tried to explain, speaking sharply and fidgeting part of the way through her response. But she had me interested, I had no idea what a Molotov was, though I think I still got a gist of what the grenade was.

"So what, we freeze an enemy to death?" Deadbolt asked sarcastically. "For some reason, I don't think making them chilly will help us kill them."

"No, as in literally freeze the enemy. I don't think it's that useful in terms of general use. But, maybe it would work on the chosen. Maybe we could capture one of them using this?" Zero quickly backed her up, making his own suggestion. "Or at the very least keep them still for long enough that we could all shoot at it."

"Huh...That does sound pretty sick. Hopefully they are all that good." Vandal chirped in agreement. I found myself staring towards Zero as they continued the conversation, my thoughts returning to what my Matriarch said, about us. I know I shouldn't listen to anything she said, but if what she was saying was wrong, why did it make sense? Why would any of the puzzle pieces in my brain suddenly click into place thinking about it that way? But the emotions that came with it just felt so...unnatural. I need more time to think about it further, but maybe I should pay more attention to him. Maybe...Maybe it would be the right decision. I just don't want to scare him away again. I don't want to lose him as a friend because of how I felt about him.

I eventually broke out of my stare as the clock in my peripherals quickly refocused; I had to go and do my next shift standing watch over my Matriarch. I didn't particularly want to do so, I think she saw me as an opportunity to try and convince someone X-Com was bad. Maybe she was trying to pull strings from the inside. Well, I wouldn't let that happen. It's just whether I was willing to put up with it or not.

"I should head off. The Matriarch requires my attention, unfortunately." I muttered in between their next break in conversation, getting up from my chair, a slight scratching noise from the chair moving across the floor bringing everyone's eyes onto me.

"Heh, good luck. I'm not allowed to be on guard duty anymore, so I guess the one positive is I don't have to waste my time on her in there." Deadbolt chuckled, pushing his plate in front of him further onto the table.

"Alright then, I'll see you around Kass," Vandal responded, shooting me a quick nod. "I'm in later today, I'm not particularly looking forward to it."

"See you later Kassara. I'll be down in Engineering with Ash if you wanna come see me." Zero also bid his farewells.

"Yeah. Maybe." I couldn't help but return his smile after I considered his invitation, before I left the cafeteria, leaving them to talk more before they returned to their posts as well.

I could see Brick waiting outside the cell room for me; she was next on duty with me this time. We were both a little early, so we weren't needed inside yet.

"Hey Brick." I greeted meekly, standing opposite her in the corridor, with as little as a nod otherwise to greet her. We hadn't really spoken since our mission to capture the Matiarch, it all felt a little awkward. I think she had kind of avoided me since the incident came out because she didn't approve of what I had done. But I hadn't seen her with Zero either, so I couldn't help but feel something else was at play. But we were kind of forced to be in each others company for the time being at least.

"Kassara." She smiled, as if there wasn't any sort of issue. I was confused at first by her actions, to say the least. "Is this the first time you've been on duty to see her?"

"No. I was in with Twitch yesterday. Wish I wasn't back here today, she really irritates me." I complained, watching a smirk play upon Brick's face.

"And here I was worried she might be trying to talk you back onto her side." She said with a wink. I think at this point, I was too confused about her behavior, so I unconsciously decided to confront her about it.

"Hey, Brick, are we okay? You're worrying me." I stated outright, watching her flinch ever so slightly as I addressed it. "We've not really spoken since our last mission, and you're pretending you're ok with me. If there's something wrong, I'd prefer you to tell me."

"Yeah, we're...I just..." I saw her scratching the back of her head, breaking into a grin as she did so. I saw her catch my gaze, and her cheery mood dropped, her hand falling from her head at the same time as the smile fell from her face. "I'm just concerned. For both of you" She started, the usual upbeat demeanor dropping completely. Instead she kept glancing away from me, her arms folding across her chest as she spoke to me. "Look, I know I'm not exactly the best at keeping secrets, I know, really. But you and Zero have been keeping things from me, and I just...I don't know, I can't explain."

"You mean...You're feeling left out?"

"I don't know, man." She threw her hands up briefly. "I just don't like that all of this has been going on behind my back."

"Brick, the secrets weren't kept from you because of any other reason than either of the secrets could have ruined our future with X-Com. And you aren't any good at keeping a secret either, it doesn't help, no." I couldn't help but shake my head at the childishness of my friend. Surely she understood that who she was or her relation to us had no effect on the fact we couldn't tell anybody of the secret just come out. Imagine if I had told her when it had happened? I would be at that Black Market as Zero had threatened. Or worse; dead.

"I'm your friend, Kassara, I'm supposed to be here to help you when you have a problem. That's all." She sighed.

"You can't fix my problems, Brick!" I exclaimed back, jabbing a finger in her direction. "Nobody can."

I watched her slump back against the wall, avoiding eye contact with me. I felt a little guilt at telling her how it was, but her feelings on the matter were to be quite unhelpful, to be honest. I wanted to console her, but the door to the cell room opened. Brick's posture immediately shot back upright, back to the personality that I knew, as she greeted Firehawk and Samurai as they headed out from the holding room.

I headed in after Brick, who still remained silent, bringing her pink and black chequered gun in with her in just one hand. I watched as the form of my Matriarch uncoiled as I entered, showing her obvious interest in my presence here.

"Welcome back, daughter," She greeted, her tongue flicking out between the bars briefly. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine." I bluntly responded to her question. Brick sat herself down on one of the chairs by the chess set, but turned away from the board as to signify that she didn't want to play. I didn't plan on entertaining her with answers to her questions, or to let her antagonize me further with any snide comments, but it didn't give me a lot else to do if Brick wasn't going to talk to me either.

"So what's X-Com's plans with me now then?" She interrupted the silence, though Brick barely even glanced over towards the Matriarch as she spoke. "Am I just going to be a prisoner forever? I haven't even been questioned yet, do you plan on even trying to get any information from me?"

"I don't know when they will, but probably, yeah, they'll try and get you to talk at some point." I shrugged.

"Maybe they'll try and use me as a bargaining chip? Cause for some reason I don't think that would work, for more reasons than the obvious ones." She continued theorizing what they had planned for her.

"I doubt that they'll give you back to Advent." I shook my head, knowing full well that they wouldn't risk trading her back, not for anything. Maybe if the Commander managed to get captured again, I guess. I remembered back to the threats that I was given when I was a captive, liking the idea of trying to instill a little bit of fear in the mind of my Mother. "Though I know that for the Vipers that don't give them any information, they simply sell them off to the black market." I hissed, hiding my smugness at my actions. I could see Brick's attention fall on me out of the corner of my eye.

"The Black Market? If I was given to them, they'd probably ransom me back to Advent for an absurd amount of money, I'm sure," She laughed off the suggestion. The human-like grin settled on her face again. "And of course then they'd be wiped out by Advent once I was secured again." Brick stood up from her chair, walking over to join the conversation, if one would be able to call it that.

"I doubt that. There's way more money is pacifying you into a subservient creature to sell as a pet." Brick repeated the threat that had been quoted to me so many times. Just for the brief moment in time, I could see doubt and panic play upon her face, she hadn't even considered that as a result of being sold to the Black market.

"Why would they do that? There's surely more money to make selling me as I am?" She queried, still trying to maintain her confidence in her voice.

"Think about it, having the queen of the Vipers as your pet, willing to do whatever you please? There are some fucked up people out there that would pay more than Advent would be willing to pay to get you back. Trust me on that." Brick grinned. I could see my matriarch visibly shake, the shudder going from tip to tail.

"I will never understand humans, they are vile creatures." She hissed in hostility towards us. "I don't see why the Elders don't just harvest the rest of your population and make you into a slave race. It would be so much easier for everyone involved."

"We're also a slave race to the Elders, you realize that, right?" I asked her dryly, glad to have the support of my friend to help me against her. I watched her eyes burning with defiance, disagreeing with my statement, but refusing to talk with us further. We watched as she curled back from the bars, retreating backward further into the cell. Something told me she wouldn't be trying to bother me for a while. I gave a nod of appreciation to Brick for helping me out, seeing her return a slight smile, wordless, yet it said many things at the same time. How envious I was at how clear the expressions of the humans could be.

"Do you want the TV on?" She asked, watching the Matriarch settle back down on the bed in her cell. "I'd fancy some background noise, if you don't mind."

I agreed to her request, so we switched the TV on. I reminisced about the fact that I would have usually been on the other side of the bars when the TV was put on in these rooms. It was another reminder that the roles were reversed this time, and I liked that this was the case. We both watched the Advent broadcast, advertising their city centers, shows talking about the various advances that are being made, or more talk concerning all of the gene therapy clinics across the city centers. All the usual stories that they typically broadcast on their channel.

After watching the TV for some time, an update to a news story I had expected to see since we had tuned appeared, concerning the loss of the Viper Matriarch following an attack on the Viper Embassy in City A303. Brick gave me a short elbow and a chuckle at the announcement of the title of the story. I watched as my Matriarch decided that she was mildly interested in watching the story as well. She coiled back out of her bed, sliding along the floor until she could see the screen with us.

 _'Advent will be holding a national day of mourning for the loss of the leader of the Viper race. The Viper Matriarch lead her race alongside the Elders into the new world, a leader with both clarity in their vision, and the rationality to guide them in the right direction. She was killed two days ago in attacks on the city center A303, following attacks on a supply depot and a gene therapy clinic, killing numerous innocent civilians...'_

"Hah, I'm not dead! They know that!" The Matriarch heckled from her cell. "But...why would they...unless they were..." I watched as she continued to mumble quietly, appearing to be in thought.

"Hey, quiet, we're watching same as you." Brick interrupted her, though the Matriarch didn't appear to be paying any attention to what she was saying, other than being a little quieter in her musings.

' _There will be no Vipers on active duty for tomorrow, or required for any work purposes, however, operations will continue as normal. It is a sad moment in the history of the Advent coalition with the human race, and she will go down in history as an innovative leader who put her heart before herself in everything she did...'_

"They're not going to replace me!" She blurted out from the cage, this time drawing attention from both of us. "They want me gone! My projects..."

We stared back at the TV screen as a man dressed head to toe in very stylish and official-looking uniform, introduced as the governor of the city by the title in the bottom of the screen.

 _'It's unfortunate that X-Com has taken away such a prominent leader from us. It should serve as a lesson in humility, that we must keep our eyes open for any suspicious activity, and stay alert for these dissidents.'_

The TV screen then returned to the initial reporter, no longer just a voice over a background, but instead it showed the woman with a brunette ponytail, though this time the typical smiles that seemed to be plastered everywhere else wasn't on her face.

' _It is also with regret that a number of unfinished projects led by the Viper Matriarch will have to be discontinued, without her knowledge or the funding to back them. However there are still several plans in action all headed by her that are being taken over by other Advent divisions to improve life for everyone within the Advent city centers...'_

"No no no no," The Matriarch quickly repeated. "They can't do that, they can't!"

"Do what?" Brick asked, not turning her attention away from the screen in front of her.

"You don't understand what this means. None of you do!" She hissed in frustration. I could hear her tail whipping around on the floor behind her, scraping against the metal underneath her.

"What projects are they on about?" I asked, trying to coerce information out of her. If she would tell us about what we were trying to find out from whatever Ash was able to extract when she hacked into the Matriarch's computer, it could end up benefitting us greatly.

"I don't know which ones they are talking about specifically, but if it's what I think it is, it means the end for the Vipers, Kassara. They aren't replacing me, they aren't even looking for me, are they? Now I'm out of the picture they have control of the Vipers." She explained quickly, as if trying to convey a point to a 6-year-old. I noticed she didn't take the time to correct herself even about saying my name as Kassara and not as my old name under Advent. I turned the TV off, not letting the background noise distract, though brick complained about me turning it off because she was watching it.

"You mean that they aren't looking for another leader at all? They're just controlling all the Vipers directly now, aren't they?" I asked, trying to clarify what she was saying. "It's because you decided that cloning Vipers was a good idea, you literally gave them control of us!" I berated, holding my rifle across my body as I spoke to her.

"It was a good idea! Fewer Vipers died that way! With the projects together it wouldn't have been a problem, you've fucked the entirety of the Viper race with this! Now Advent will use them only for war and peacekeeping. What a waste of potential." She defended adamantly, shifting the blame onto us. She was seething mad, her brows furrowed and her hands in fists held by her side.

"Why are there only going to be cloned Vipers?" Brick asked, turning her attention to our raging prisoner. "What have I missed?" The Matriarch paused for a moment, considering her options, I think her anger at Advent winning out.

"The males of the Viper race are limited and managed by Advent. It's population control. They don't need the males if they can produce Vipers for their own purposes as clones. The males were one of my 'projects'. Of course they're going to fucking scrap it, it plays right into their hands." She huffed, cursing under her breath afterward.

"And you still want me to believe that Advent isn't malicious, you want me to believe that they had my interests at heart, did you? You didn't even believe that yourself." I goaded, watching her sit in silence at my taunt, not arguing back with me. I turned to Brick, who looked a little uneasy at hearing our realization. "We should let Bradford know that Advent is seeking to take control of the Viper race completely."

"Kass...I don't think there's anything we can do to save them. We're not strong enough to exactly...you know...take a race of the Elders." Brick hesitantly responded, a hand falling around my shoulder. I recoiled inwardly at her response, I had just been on the train of realizing that the Elders were moving to control the Vipers that it was the one fact about the situation I didn't want to hear. It was an obvious conclusion, but I think I needed it pointed out to me.

"You're right...But...we at least need to let him know" I feebly responded, knowing the futility of any argument I could make. What could we even do with this information? It's not like we could even stop this plan from being put into action. It just hurt both finding out about what was the case, and knowing there wasn't anything I could do about it either.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 14:20 EST, 05/23/2035, Location: Unknown)

After Ash and I returned from our late breakfast, or early lunch depending on who you ask, we spent most of that day finishing up on the armor and weapons currently in production. It had been a little slower than we had been previously, I think fatigue was starting to show in our work, though probably mostly in mine. I wasn't used to having to work for such lengths of time, not for a long time now. I used to have fairly long days in the Advent school system, but they weren't anywhere near as intense, and the length of time spent at the schools were still shorter than the time I spent here.

I remembered my time back in college, before I dropped out. Everything was fairly strict, if I was going to be honest, you were punished in my mind disproportionally for small things such as deviation from the uniform, not being in class on time, any late homework. But at the same time, it was fairly nice being there. The days only lasted about 6 hours, one of them being a lunch break, so it wasn't anything too strenuous. One thing that was easily noticeable though was that the college was specifically for humans. There were no Aliens that learned alongside the students, though there was a Viper professor who taught us classes about the preferred coding language of Advent to us, and a Sectoid who covered mathematical modeling to us. It was interesting being taught by some sort of voice in your head who was just able to convey their thoughts to you in a linear sort of fashion. I suppose it eliminated any confusion about the model, if we could literally see it in our heads. Maybe it was the routine and safety I missed, maybe it was nostalgia. But I missed the friends I had there, regardless.

But after finishing off the armor, we eventually turned our attention to the weapons that we had been eyeballing the entire time we were working, just sat on one of Shen's workbenches untouched. But now Ash and I stood over the weapons, watching intently as Shen inspected them herself first, going about each one with a mechanical approach, taking notes down on a sheet of paper as Ash and I waited for her instructions.

"They look so old...Do you reckon they even work anymore?" Ash pondered aloud. "They look cool, but I just don't know if firing them won't just make the fall apart. I mean, just look at the pistol, it has a wooden stock, it's probably deteriorated over the years quite badly."

"Yeah, not to mention that the sights are completely fixed," Shen said, holding up the pistol in two hands, looking down the length of the barrel. "They aren't adjustable at all. Even weapons used 20 years ago had adjustable sights. The same is with the Boltcaster, the sighting is completely fixed on it." She mused, placing down the weapon alongside the other 3 on the table.

"Boltcaster?" I asked, believing she had just come up with the name out of thin air. "What are the other weapons called?"

"ShadowKeeper, Hunter's Axes, and Frost Bomb," She listed, pointing at each of the weapons, before explaining where she got the names from. "They were in the manifest on board the ship. Along with a bunch of ammo for the weapons."

"So, why don't we give them a test fire?" I suggested with a shrug, watching Shen mull over my question for a few seconds. She picked up the pistol, holding it by the handle, and flipped it in the air to catch the barrel, before handing it towards me.

"You probably shouldn't have done that, if you dropped it you may have damaged it," Ash commented. Shen gave a snort in response as I took the weapon, before dismissing the comment by waving her hand, whilst the other fell to her hip.

"Shhh, it's fine. Just don't tell the Commander, anyway."

"Should we go down to the practice range with these?" I asked, pointing towards the weapons and distracting them from each other.

"Oh, no. I got one in here." She smiled, picking up the bolt caster herself. "Ash, could you take the Axes please?"

My initial reaction was a 'wait, what' to her telling us that she had her own shooting range. I suppose it didn't make sense since she wasn't a soldier, but she needed somewhere to test fire the weapons she made, I guess. Though I hadn't exactly been around her workshop that much, just mostly working on the armor, I was still surprised I hadn't seen the range before. I followed Shen, with Ash behind me, as she walked us towards the back of Engineering, towards a small metal door that seemed to close diagonally across, judging by the line that showed the two separate plates that made up the door. It slid open as she approached, revealing to us a relatively short practice range, with targets and dummies present for us to shoot.

"I didn't realize you were keeping this all hidden from us..." I joked as we entered, watching as Shen stepped up to a desk with 4 different magnetic weapons on it, and a very broken looking target board, full of small holes, presumably from the weapons on the desk.

"Hey, I used to know how to shoot, you know." She shot back, I think feigning the hurt voice. "Doesn't mean I don't like firing some of these things for myself occasionally. That and I don't have time to test my weapon out each time I make any changes down at the main range. Help me move these off the desk, please?"

Ash and I looked towards each other as we both held our individual weapons, both of us wondering whether she wanted us to put down the ones we were holding to do so, I hope. I put the pistol in my left hand and lifted the magnetic rifle off of the front desk, putting it on one of the tables on the side of the room, coming back to do the same from the magnetic cannon, whilst Ash removed the other two weapons.

"Well, ladies first." Shen announced once the desk was clear. She held her hand out to take the Axe from Ash, and offered the Boltcaster in return, a small smile playing across her face. Admittedly, I thought Shen was going to go first when she announced ladies first, I would have thought she was dying to try out firing it. Ash hesitated, gingerly exchanging the weapons, turning over the silvered relic in her hands. The color of her scales was definitely darker than the weapon she held, but I had to admire the aesthetic the grey Viper made with the Boltcaster.

"I haven't shot before, I'll just miss" She flustered, dropping the weapon from in front of her down to her side as she spoke.

"Don't be silly. Come on, it'll be easy." Shen said, taking one of the bolts that went into the weapon, and handing it to Ash. She inspected the projectile in her hand, turning it over, before inserting it into the end of the weapon she held. She pushed the bolt in until there was an audible click, before standing up to the desk in front.

"Oh, hang on, I'll get a new target out for you. One second!" Shen suddenly exclaimed, setting the Axe down onto the table and jumping into action, tearing out the frame that was currently in front of Ash, tossing it off to the side, and pulling another target out for her. She attached it to the frame before prancing back onto the other side with us, picking the Axe back up from the table. "When you're ready." She grinned, nodding in encouragement towards the grey Viper.

Ash leveled the weapon at the stationary target in front of her, it wasn't any more than about 10 meters away, and was pretty large, so I was sure she wasn't going to miss. You'd have to try pretty hard to manage to miss from there. She held the weapon, clearly swaying considerably, both from side to side with her body ever so slightly, and the general sway from her arms. It was a very noticeable difference between how well Kassara and Ash could shoot. When Kassara shot her upper body was very steady, and her arms and head didn't sway anywhere near the same amount that Ash did.

The arms of the Boltcaster extended to form the shape of a crossbow more noticeable, before Ash loosed the shot, the metal bolt flying at great speed down the short range; the cardboard target stood no chance. The bolt pierced it completely, leaving a very clean circular hole in the middle of the target, slightly off center, the bolt firmly planted in the metal wall behind it, it must have sunk about halfway in.

"Nice shot!" I congratulated, watching her look fairly pleased with herself, in the way one might expect a Viper to. Her tail quivered erratically as she placed the weapon back on the bench in front, stepping back from it.

"Damn...that was way more powerful than I thought it would be..." Shen admired, walking down the range. "That's a few inches of solidly packed cardboard that thing just ripped through, plus a few more of metal. She tried to pull it out from the metal, with very little success, despite using a foot against the surface to try and achieve this.

"That was oddly quite fun!" Ash smiled, her hands clasped together in front of her chest. "Can I do it again?"

"Don't know, did the weapon hold up okay?" Shen asked, heading back towards us. She picked up the weapon, inspecting it for any damage, but couldn't see any, judging from her surprised look before setting it down. "Seems to be fine...no damage to the weapon. Should just need to be pulled back and it's ready to go. It fired pretty damn fast, I can't get that sort of acceleration with any of the mag weapons, even the sniper rifle. Not safely, anyway. I suppose downsides are the single shot capacity it has, though." She annotated.

"So I can shoot it again?"

"Not yet, I wanna see if the other weapons still work first. If this can be used for what I think it can, I definitely need to test it out. It's perfectly weighted, yet still super light," She said, referring to the Axe she held. She stood behind the desk with it, turning it over in her grip, lifting it up and down gently as if trying to get a feel for it. "The blade on it is still super sharp. It's probably sharper than our swords, as it stands, and trust me, the swords we use are super freaking sharp."

She took a single step back, raising the Axe over her head in both hands, the length of the weapon showing as it was going down to the back of her knees. She leaned backward slightly, and she placed a foot forwards, leaning with it as she launched the Axe in front of her, flying perfectly to hit the target in front of us. The blade hit and pierced through the head of the target, the rest of the Axe continuing on the hit the metal wall behind it, clattering back down to the ground, still in one piece.

"That was awesome..." Ash commented, her mouth still hung agape as she looked down towards the top of the ruined target. "How did you throw it so accurately?"

"I don't know. As much as I would love to say I've got loads of practice throwing Axes, I really don't. There's something about the weapon that just makes it easier to throw. Other than being fairly lightweight, of course." Shen shrugged, moving away from the bench to one of the tables on the side of the room, opening a couple of drawers, briefly looking through them before closing them again.

"What are you searching for?" I offered, trying to see if I was able to help her in any way at all.

"Goggles. As much as I probably should have got them out earlier when test firing the Boltcaster and such, I'm more worried about these ones, cause the bullets it uses are actual bullets, and not a large rod of metal, which means it's more likely to bounce off of the metal and fly back our way." She called back, still pulling open more drawers in search of what she wanted.

"I can't even wear goggles, I assume they are built for humans." Ash pointed out, causing Shen to freeze momentarily as she peered through another drawer, before returning to what she was doing.

"Zero, could you have a look in some of the other drawers on the other side? I have no idea where I put them." Shen asked, apparently ignoring Ash's point. I walked over to the other few counters in the room, four drawers in front of me. I opened the first, a collection of bolts and screws scattered around within the drawer, but otherwise was filled with nothing else. The second drawer had a few smaller tools in it, and four pairs of goggles. I pulled three out, closing the drawer behind me, waving them in the air above my head before placing them down on the table. I took a pair myself, watching as Shen took one herself, and placed the other to the side of the table, confirming that Ash would not be able to wear one herself. I mean, it seemed a bit pointless to have the health and safety aspect of wearing the goggles when Ash wasn't going to be wearing them anyway.

"When you're ready then, Zero." She said, giving me the go-ahead to fire my shot of the Shadowkeeper. I took my place at the center of the desk, raising the pistol with my right arm, aligning the iron sights to the center of the target. It felt quite nice to hold, the wooden stock felt very comfortable in my grasp, and it was light enough that it didn't weigh down my extended arm as other pistols would.

As I pulled back the trigger, the hammer cocked back as well, until I felt the resistance give way. A blast of smoke erupted out of the pistol, thick black smoke almost forming a screen in front of me. Once the smoke had dissipated, I saw that out of the barrel fired not the one bullet that I put in, but 5 pellets, all in a line straight into the middle of the target, as if I'd fired a really tight spread shotgun. I slowly lowered the gun, still looking on in surprise at the target in front of me, clearly showing a small cluster of bullet holes exactly where I had aimed.

"Uh..." Ash hesitated, all of us in a little shock at what the weapon I was holding exactly was. "I have never, in my time on this planet, heard of a weapon anything like this."

"What happened with the bullet? Did it shatter inside the barrel as it was being fired?" Shen tried to troubleshoot, taking the weapon out of my hands. She reloaded it with another bullet, firing it also at the target. A similar close spread fired from the weapon once more, the thick black smoke engulfing the front of Shen as it had with me.

"I..." She paused, unsure of what to say about the weapon she was holding. "I think everything is intentional, you know. Not just the bullet spread, but I mean the smoke as well...I think there's something special I'm missing with all of these weapons. Think of what you could use this for? It's a get out of jail free card, a shotgun in a pistol and a smokescreen so you can try and get away. It's probably not right, but I also don't think I'm far off." She kept talking, the idea possessing her as she paced around. "These weapons could end up being crucial to our effort. It's a shame that the Skyranger went down, who knows who the weapons were being delivered to. Maybe it was to try and turn the tide of the war."

"You think X-Com was trying to get these weapons when they were trying to stop the aliens from arriving on Earth?" Ash asked. "You mean 20 years ago?"

"They're old...they look way older than just 20 years, but they don't look like they haven't been used for 20 years." I offered, with a nod from Shen confirming her agreement with me. She stood with her arms crossed, her fingers drumming along the inside of her arm as she thought.

"It has something to do with that signal we picked up the other day, the one that was playing on this frequency. It must have been an old X-Com frequency that they used. It couldn't be anyone else, right?"She decided, immediately breaking into a fast walk, passing between me and Ash as she headed back out of the room. She immediately headed for the set of consoles that we had first found the two signals from.

"I should have thought to listen back to this sooner, now without the interference from the second signal, we can try and decipher the first message. If we can trace it, we could at least get a location for some place to try and find if there's any similar weapons there." Shen said quickly, her tongue trying to keep up with her mind, I'm sure. Her fingers flew across the keyboard in front of her as she relocated the message and tuned it to the correct frequency. The message played back, it was still garbled, but some words were starting to become discernable through the noise.

 _'...Throughout the area...are of particular concern to...all attempts should be made...'_

"The Commander should see this. I'll get this to him now..." Shen muttered under her voice, already typing away as she began to send the message through to Bradford.

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 02:26 EST, 05/26/2035, Location: Unknown)

I settled down into one of the beanbags in the rec room, curling my hand against the warm mug of coffee, and letting the warmth seep into me a little. It was the early hours of the morning, and the cold had got to me a little. I was sat here for a while earlier, but I decided to go back to my room to pick up my duvet and drag it down to curl up in to try and keep warm, and it certainly was working as well as I had hoped.

I hadn't got to see much of Zero or Ash much due to them both being down in Engineering, though I think both of them are currently excavating out one of the cordoned off areas of the ship. I had been trying to gauge if Zero indeed returned what I thought I may be feeling towards him. I wasn't exactly sure if what the Matriarch had any value still...and it twisted me inside a little to think that it may be the case, but what if it was? Was that what I was feeling? And did he feel the same way, as she said? I didn't want to overthink it too much. But that wasn't the reason for me staying up so late tonight. Some of the others had been sent out on a mission, an emergency one apparently, and I decided I wanted to watch it myself. I know a few people were watching it in their dorm rooms, but with one of the female squaddies and Brick gone on the mission, I didn't particularly feel like watching it in my room with the other girl there. So here I was, at half-past two in the morning, currently waiting in the dim lights of the rec room for the screen to change off from the blackness the occupied it at the moment.I brought the mug to my lips, taking a large sip, feeling the warm liquid going down my throat, the bitterness biting back at me a little. I don't think I would particularly get used to it any time soon.

I heard the door open as I brought the mug back down from my mouth, and turned to face the figure entering the room. The cloak of the Reaper flowed to a stop as she paused, noticing me as the only one in the room. The hesitation was a little unnerving, but she resumed her walk, approaching closer towards me, grabbing a chair as she came closer, setting it beside me, and taking her place.

"You look quite cozy there. I think you have the right idea," She greeted, her voice still fairly low and somewhat rough in comparison to others on the ship. "Where did you get the coffee from?"

"I just used the packets that were on the trolley beside the bar. The water should be already boiled." I responded, my voice croaking slightly at the lack of use and lateness combined. I cleared my throat as quiet as I could as Elena walked over to the trolley, getting herself a cup, the little 'tinks' sounding through the room as she clinked the teaspoon against the sides of her mug as she stirred. She walked back over, taking her seat again, taking a small sip before setting it down beside her.

"You know, when I was on the covert mission with Zero, I asked him about you," She started, skipping any sort of conversation she could have made. "He spoke highly of you. Very highly. He convinced me that you weren't so bad, that I should give you a little bit more room than I gave you initially. Do you know what his response was when I asked him if he thought whether you would kill him or not given the chance? He stayed silent. I thought at the time that I was showing the flaws in his arguments, that he wasn't arguing for what he really felt."

"Look, I know I haven't really given you a reason to exactly trust me. I'm not the Viper I was back then." I defended, seeing where she was going with her argument. It was only going to end in a shouting match if I didn't de-escalate it.

"No, Kassara, listen," She grinned, looking down into her coffee, before bringing her gaze back up to meet mine. "I thought that was the case. I realized, after what happened came out, that he hesitated because he knew you had considered killing him. But what struck me about it was that it meant that he was honestly defending you and vouching for you otherwise, and that was how he really felt. I know you're on our side; we are literally holding your Matriarch captive, if you're trying to get us to buy your act, you've sold it to me for sure." She chuckled slightly, taking another sip. I didn't really know how to respond to what she was saying, but I could feel a wave of relief wash over me. I replied with a solitary nod, returning to staring at the black screen in front of me, taking regular sips from the coffee in my hands that was getting colder by the second.

"Do you know anything about the mission they're going on?" Elena asked, possibly trying to fill the silence up with something.

"Not much. They're following a signal they picked up. I heard Bradford is going on their mission, but I haven't heard much otherwise." I answered, parting with the information Zero had given to me yesterday, though there wasn't much of it. She nodded in acknowledgment of my response, as we went back to waiting for the screen to light up. Fortunately, it wasn't long before the screen lit up in a bright blue, before the camera of the Gremlin replaced the piercing light. The camera showed the squad setting down on a small bit of raised ground, the dirt underneath their feet harboring little vegetation. However, it was too dark to see much else around the drop off location, other than a faint light ahead of them, which flickered at the edges of the camera hypnotically. With Goblin and Bradford taking the lead of the squad, they made their approach towards the light, keeping to the cover of rocks and trees.

The camera tailed the group, the source of the light slowly coming into view. The fires burned atop spikes which harbored human-shaped skulls, amidst clusters of other spikes of varying heights, all adorned with the completely bare skulls. The fire gave the illusion of the skulls being on fire, providing a torch which illuminated the surrounding area, along with the enemies in front of the squad.

Bradford moved forwards, Goblin following up beside him, and he unleashed his shot at the target ahead; a Viper. It wasn't a normal Viper, although it was somewhat difficult to see on the camera, they both shared similar colorings that were nowhere close to those of Advent Vipers. It took me a small moment's thought, long enough to watch them both fall under the combined fire of the two Rangers, to come to my conclusion.

"Those are kids..." I murmured upon coming to the realization, pushing up from the beanbag I was sat in, setting the coffee cup on the floor beside me. The Vipers they had shot were not the typical amber colour most Vipers were. They were instead a mostly blue and white colour, with the blue scales making up the majority of their back, and the white their undersides, though there were also noticeable patches of red along the Vipers, making up their patterns. They weren't adults, they weren't even Advent. "They are Neonate Vipers they are killing!" I called out, looking to Elena in appeal.

"Those 'kids' are still enemies, Kassara. Look, they are wearing armor and have weapons, they'll shoot back all the same." She shut down calmly, not taking her eyes from the screen.

"It's not just that!" I fumed, explaining my other concerns that immediately raised upon seeing the young Vipers fall on the camera. "They are young Vipers! As in they were birthed here! That means there's a male Viper here, for all we know Advent is trying to kill them!"

"What?" She asked, turning around, away from the screen as the group pushed into the facility in front of them, past more clusters of skulls, in a building with three shattered containers, amidst a series of computers, some sort of blue smoke still pouring from the one in the middle.

"Advent is possibly trying to stop Vipers from reproducing. But there must be a male Viper here for there to be young Vipers, if they find and kill him they could end up killing any chance my species has at separating from Advent!" I reasoned, watching her expression falter from the unconcerned look she was wearing before. She turned to watch the screen as they shot down more young Vipers, pushing up past the containers, into a wider opening which seemed to be lit by light pouring out from the facility, along with several lamps and lights littered around the floor.

I felt the desperation building up inside of me, knowing what I did, the Commander could potentially be jeopardizing the autonomy of my species with this mission. I had to tell him. I unfurled from the beanbag, the duvet falling off from my body and exposing it to the chilly air outside as I started to get up, when Elena spoke up.

"If you're going to go tell the Commander to stop, I would advise against it." She started, crossing her foot onto the top of her other knee as she sipped her drink.

"Wha...?" I paused, wondering why she cared about what I had to say to the Commander.

"Apart from the fact you can't go into the control center, he knows what he's doing. You aren't going to be able to convince him to not do the mission. And in doing so you'll miss anything that happens in the mission. This isn't your fight." She reasoned, her voice measured as if teaching me. I wanted to argue, I wanted to tell her she was wrong and that I could change his mind. But he knew about the situation with the Vipers. He would notice a male viper if we came across one, then it was on him whether he kills it or not. What she said made sense, however much I wish it didn't.

I slumped back down into the beanbag, only making sure not to knock over the coffee I had placed on the floor earlier, and dragging my duvet back over me, though nowhere near as neat as I had made it before, it didn't cover all of my scales, but it was enough to keep me warm for the time being.

I watched on the screen as they advanced into the new area, dirt underneath their feet again. Suddenly, the entire camera started to erupt into movement in every pixel, as out of every crevice, out of any of the holes in the floor slithered numerous snakes, most of them were Neonate Vipers, but maybe 3 or 4 of the Vipers that suddenly appeared out of nowhere sported the normal colors and markings shown by Advent. However, their armor was unmarked, so they didn't fight for Advent, but there was probably little doubt that these Vipers were the birth mothers of the Vipers here.

Bradford leaped into action, jumping over a set of tables with crates on them, some falling to the floor as he jumped over, his hand reaching for the arc sword on his back in a fluid movement, drawing it just in time to slash through the Neonate Viper closest to him. But he didn't stop there. He was so fast on the camera, as he kept running between targets of the smaller Vipers, hacking and slashing his way in a chain through them. Some of them tried to fire back, but they never hit him, he was moving to fast, he was upon them before they could get the shot. The other Vipers tried to find a shot to put the Ranger out of action, but with him amongst them, they couldn't shoot him without possibly shooting each other. And every Viper he killed, I could feel the growing frustration inside me, and I remained unable to vent the feeling anywhere.

The rest of the squad quickly cleaned up after Bradford, leaving a couple of the Adult Vipers alive, and a single Neonate. The first Viper pulled Bradford to them, looking to bind them and take him out of the fight, But Bradford reacted before they could coil around him, his blade flying back out of its holster to find its way through the midsection of the Viper. The other took a shoot with her rifle, striking Brick through the cover she was using; a small storage container unit, while the Neonate Viper retreated from the group. Deadbolt was quick to find the Neonate Viper before she could escape, whilst Goblin and Bradford took down the remaining Viper between them.

"They're murdering them..." I sighed, resigning myself to the fact I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. "Every single one..." I watched the camera pan around as the group moved further into the facility, small clusters of eggs dotted around the sides of the room. I was thankful at the least they weren't shooting the clutches of eggs as they passed through the facility, though I expected them to shoot every last one on the way back.

They now approached what looked to be a shattered window, possibly once providing a barrier to an enclosure inside. Past the shards of glass that still lay on the floor was a biome of ice, as if something caused the temperature to drop tenfold as soon as you passed the barrier that was no longer there. The squad gingerly stepped through it, all of them bunching up together, keeping as a small group as they moved forward, taking cover behind a large dirt structure laden with the sheet of ice, that formed a sort of podium in the middle of the room. Slowly, the squad split up, Deadbolt taking high ground near the back of the habitat, the two rangers starting to approach the side of the mound in the middle of the room, Venom staying near the back, and Brick and Mox taking a slightly wider angle of approach. As Goblin moved forward into the middle of the enclosure, the camera focused in on a body that seemed to be trapped under a layer of ice, their arm, still preserved unlike the skulls at the front of the facility, poked out from glassy coffin they lay in, a datapad still in their hands. But behind the datapad, a flash of blue could be seen, the movement coming closer to the forefront. Within the blink of an eye, a majestic white Viper stood over the body, clad in blue stylized armor, covering the same areas the Advent armor normally would. The shoulder armor extended out into three points, all lining back up to a grey circle in the middle of the armor. On top of the being's head was all I could describe as a crown, the blue forked headgear had an extra ornament in the middle of the fork, a blue circle in the midst of an ornate two-spiked symbol.

"What is that thing..." Elena gasped, her voice also mirroring her amazement at the being at the same time. My eyes caught the blue stripes that followed his body down to his tail. He stood tall, threatening, I could sense the air of power he held around him even through the camera. I knew exactly what this was, it was the male Viper.

Deadbolt took his shot first, the momentary standstill coming to a close as quickly as it had started. As soon as the round fired, the Viper dashed straight for Goblin. It was so fast, it didn't hesitate, it coiled around its target quickly, hsi size making even Goblin look tiny in his grasp, despite his musculature. I saw Goblin writhing in his grasp, it looked tighter than any of us could manage normally. Alloy rounds from Brick spattered into the scales of the Viper, who was forced to uncoil, leaving Goblin on the floor gasping for air, a Gremlin heading over to heal him, But the Viper was already on the move. He quickly looked at the approaching Ranger, spitting something at his target, the same way I could spit poison. But instead of a green gas bubbling up from nowhere, Bradford stop dead still in his tracks, captured by ice that seemed to grow out of the floor.

"It can freeze people?" She exclaimed, shocked at the enemy. "Is that what all male Vipers can do?"

"I don't even know..." I honestly responded, shaking my head in disbelief and amazement all at the same time. It didn't stop at freezing Bradford, and fired the weapon in its hands at Brick, the same sort of metal crossbow that I had seen the others bring in, I believed they called it a Boltcaster.

I spotted Mox moving up to the high ground with his grapple, released a grenade from his utility belt, dropping it on his target below. In a flash of white and blue, suddenly it wasn't just Bradford encased in ice, but the male Viper now was as well. Another Sniper round found its way into the chunk of ice that was the Viper, another round of alloy spraying into the ice. Either from the pressure of the guns or the strength of the being within the ice, the block that encased it shattered, the Viper immediately springing back to life. But before it could act, Venom fired the metal bolt from his weapon, hitting the Viper in his chest. He seemed to stagger, holding his chest as he fought to pry the spike out of him.

"They're going to kill him!" I protested feebly, knowing full well I could do nothing about it. But here I was, looking at an actual male Viper of my species, I had never seen one in the 20 years I had lived on Earth, and it may also be my last. Elena remained silent, entranced by the battle, which flew before our eyes. Neonate Viper sprang into the room, trying to aid their father, their leige, in battle, but were quickly gunned down by Deadbolt as they tried to slither onto the ice. The white Viper ripped out the bolt, springing at the specialist, closing the distance quickly. Before he could reach his terrified target, a flash of orange flew across the room, one of the two Axes that Goblin wielded on his back slashed at his neck, the force knocking the Viper off of his course, crashing into the rubble between him and the specialist. Goblin flew towards his target, drawing the other Axe as he slashed once more at the Viper.

The Viper's tongue shot out from his mouth, reacting quickly to his attacked, pulling Goblin's leg out from underneath him before he could close the distance himself. He hissed at his previous target, before a purple light ripped into the room, static flying across the screen we were watching, everyone freezing for that brief point in time. Bradford, now free from his ice prison, was the only one to react, firing his rifle at the fleeing target of the snake as it dived through the portal it had managed to summon itself, avoiding the gunfire headed his way from his adversary. As suddenly as the purple void had appeared in the room, it just as quickly sealed, leaving no trace of the Viper, other than the green-colored blood that its wounds had stained the ice with.

My actions mirrored those of the soldiers I could see through the screen, everyone stood completely still, lowering their guns, all of us sitting in stunned silence, in awe, in fear, still trying to understand what that being even was.

* * *

 _AN:_

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	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

(Captain 'Kassara', 11:46 EST, 05/26/2035, Location: unknown)

I had gone to bed last night in a sour mood, and if I was less tired than I had been I would imagine I may have spent a long time mulling over my thoughts unwillingly instead of sleeping. But fresh from bed, after having a shower and some breakfast, the issue with the blue Viper still irked me. So I now stood outside the control center on my own, waiting for the Commander to be available to speak with me. He knew I was here as one of the technicians came out to ask me what I needed about five minutes ago. I peered through the window, the blue globe still occupying most of the room, immediately catching my eye every time I looked into the room.

The Commander was stood at the base of the hologlobe, pointing his hand out to a section of it that I couldn't see from where I was stood, talking to someone who was either out of sight or possibly through the earpiece. I could see the continents that humans referred to as Europe and Africa showing to me at the moment, meaning the Commander was currently discussing something to do with the Americas. I thought he must have been particularly focused with what he was discussing, but as soon as the thought had crossed my mind I caught him glancing towards me as I waited for him, distracting him very briefly from the task he was occupied with.

After another 5 minutes, I finally saw the Commander touch his earpiece, look over towards me, and proceed to head towards the entrance to the room, with purpose in his stride. Immediately thoughts of whether he was too busy to even bother listening to me for more than a couple of minutes occupied me for a second, but I didn't have time to worry about whether I was wasting his time now. I could feel myself tense in anticipation of the man who's stalwart gaze seemed to measure everyone he spoke to, the calculated tactical genius that lead the fight against Advent. I straightened my back and steeled my nerves as I stood in front of the door, awaiting the Commander. The door slid open to reveal him standing with his hands behind his back, already staring up to me with his eyes.

I quickly made a short bow out of instinct, out of respect to the man in front of me. He stood to one side, holding out an arm to welcome me into the control center. I gingerly moved through the door into the room, the door sealing shut behind me with a small hiss. The Commander stood waiting where he was with his arms crossed. I would have spoken first, but I could see that he already knew what this was going to be about.

"I'm assuming you're here to talk to me about the Viper King, in some capacity," He began. "You should probably be thankful Bradford isn't back up from the mission they were on just yet, otherwise he may have a few choice arguments to make back to you." He gave a short chuckle, beginning his walk over to the middle of the room, standing above a console with a screen, with the large hologlobe floating above us, now idle it slowly rotated to show all the different annotations on it.

"The Viper King?" I asked, just checking that my assumption that the large blue Viper was the same one we were referencing.

"Yes, the Viper that attacked our squad nearing the end of the mission. One that Dr. Vahlen, our head scientist before the invasion, referred to as 'Subject Gamma', alongside Alpha and Beta, two other subjects that she...created, we think." He explained briefly, images of each subject appearing on the screen in front of him. A front profile picture of the blue Viper occupied the right of the screen, the headgear included, the piercing black eyes, the flawless features. The other two subjects did not share the same majesty or beauty I would ascribe to 'Subject Gamma'.

One looked to be a modification of a Berserker, the maw common to their species unmistakeable, splitting into four fleshy mandibles. Berserkers were a larger variety of Mutons, specifically the females of the species. They had an appearance that made them look like they had no skin, that you could see their musculature, their ligaments with the naked eye. They were possibly twice as tall as me, and probably 6 times my weight, with a hulking form. This particular Berserker was much larger than the Berserkers I had previously encountered, so I assume it held a similar status that the now christened Viper King had of regality. Berserkers were terrifying in person, I could only imagine what they were like in battle.

The middle picture on the screen showcased a helmeted face, the helmet more of a crown, a long, vertical headgear that conceals where one would expect their eyes. On his back was a golden ornament, in stark contrast to the reddened skin and the white armor it wore. The semi-circular ornament on his back could almost be described as golden wings, as indeed out of the bottom of the ornament shot a flurry of red flames, as did out of the bottom of his torso. Archon's, the species he belonged to, were another one of the Elder's mockeries of the human form. They had defined musculature common to the human physiology, other than a lack of anything below the waist. The armed themselves with scepters that they used to smite those who got in their way, and could fly to the skies to rain barrages from above. And the King looked like he did everything better than the Archons could do.

"Why would she want to create these aliens?"

"I wish I had an answer to give you. She liked pushing the bounds of morality and ethics when it came to scientific progress. I don't know how she managed to recruit an entire team to help her set everything up, but it seems they paid the ultimate price after they managed to escape." He shrugged, pulling up images to replace the rulers on the screen of the various skeletons that they had found around the facility, along with the skull towers that I had seen on the TV as I was watching them. "But I'm gonna guess, that despite seeing the destruction left by these creatures, and despite seeing how much damage he could potentially do with a second run in with Xcom, you're gonna ask us to capture him, the same as your Matriarch?" He summarised, condescension slipping into his voice whether he intended it to or not.

"Well...I don't know how it's supposed to be achieved. But that's possibly the last male in existence for our race. He's obviously fertile, most of the Vipers you killed in there were children." I started, still unsure of my position.

"They were capable of holding weapons and harming us, that's not something we can avoid." He sternly responded, not pausing to think on it, in the case that he wasn't aware of that fact.

"That doesn't make the matter easier. I'm not saying you shouldn't have killed them," I immediately stated back. "But it doesn't change the fact that you were killing children. They must have only been a year old, many probably younger."

"A year, huh?" He pondered, seeming to ignore the rest of my point. "What sort of gestation period can we expect for Vipers exactly?"

"Maybe not a year at most, possibly 2. And our 'gestation period' is 3 months" I responded, still unsure of where he was taking this. Was he even considering anything I had to say?

"Vahlen wasn't one of the bodies we could identify. That means it's more than possible she's still out there...If she had kept herself safe for 17 years, and she's still active just around 2 years ago." He assessed, his fingers flying across the keyboard. I couldn't read all of it before he submitted whatever it was he had typed, but it was something on the lines of making it an objective to scan for any more possible transmissions from Vahlen.

"Commander, sir, I would like to discuss the fact that you sent a team to tear through a nesting site full of children and killed them all." I tried to bring us back to what was concerning me, albeit nervously.

"I'm not compromising the safety of the squad or Xcom on the fact that you don't want us to kill your species young." He dismissed

"So are you saying you'd also kill a bunch of human children that are armed with what was practically bow and arrows?"

"Bows and arrows?" He asked.

"The weapons those Vipers had were never going to do much damage, they were flimsy, hand constructed weapons based on an old design. I'm trying to say would you kill a child, maybe 9 or 10 years old, if they were only armed with a weapon like a bow and arrow?" I tried to pose the situation to him. He paused for a minute, and I thought I was maybe getting through to him as he brought his fingers to chin, gently rubbing it.

"I see what you mean. But yes, I would order my squad to kill them. Especially when there's so many of them. I can't risk a soldier dying for the sake of saving a child."

"And then what about destroying the egg clutches that were there? I assume you did that also?" I asked, continuing whilst I had my small advantage.

"Yes, we did. We can't risk having another group of Vipers grow up and follow this King around. Look, Kassara, what's happened and what will happen isn't going to change. They are the enemy, and they will kill us, so we must kill them."

"They aren't Advent though!" I protested, my raised voice drawing a couple of looks from other operators. I quietened back down, upon this realization. "Commander, with all due respect, this isn't an enemy we actually need to fight."

"You're suggesting we try and run from an aggressive creature that is probably faster than our entire squad and sacrifice any objective if it turns up?" He asked dubiously.

"I...I don't know." I sighed, knowing that whilst I may make a good argument, it doesn't stop the fact that I can't sacrifice lives of any squadmates for the sake of not killing this male, even if he remains the last way to truly save my species. What do we become then? A species made up of clones, unable to procreate.

"Kassara, I understand your concerns. But I know even you know how unable we are to do anything about the situation. It's not a choice we have." He comforted, his hand falling upon my shoulder, I could feel the pressure underneath my armor. "Thank you for bringing your concerns to me, but there are more important issues I must deal with."

"What about trying to capture some of the young?" I suggested. He didn't offer any counterpoint immediately, so I tried to explain myself. "It'll obviously be easier to capture a young Viper, I'm sure Shen could develop some sort of stun weapon to achieve this. If we can capture a male young Viper we could save my species."

"I will bring the idea to Bradford, then. And Shen, obviously. I can't guarantee we make that an objective, or if it's something we can even actively do in the field. But I will see what I can do." He relented on my suggestion, leaving me a little stunned that he actually agreed to it. I followed the Commander in silence, other than managing a meek 'thank you' after he agreed to pitch my suggestion to Bradford. He opened the door to the control center, showing me out, as I listened to the hiss of the door shutting behind me, finally able to breath out all of the tension and nerves I had built up before and during, I needed to do every bit I could if I wanted to try and save my race from the Elders. This was one of the pivotal moments on whether or not it was possible to do it. And now it all hinged on the decision of the Commander.

"So, I take it the talk didn't go that well?" a low but effeminate voice sounded from my left, taking me by surprise mostly because I hadn't really paid attention to any surroundings as I left the control center, my mind running overdrive on formulating different possibilities of what could happen, different potential futures based on what decision was made from here on out. Taking a break from this thinking wouldn't really hurt, my little mind was struggling to keep up with its own thoughts.

"Taiya, I didn't realize you knew I was here." I abruptly addressed, the first words coming to my mind the same words that came out of my mouth. I realized they sounded fairly accusatory and defensive in retrospect, unfortunately.

"I felt the need to come here," He stated, matter-of-factly, kicking himself off of the wall he was leaning on whilst he had been waiting for me. He approached closer to me, and placed his hands either side of the ring on his helmet, as he slowly removed it from his face, his long hair dropping in front of his eyes. He tucked his helmet under his arm, and his now free hand swished his hair back behind his shoulders, mostly swept to one side, revealing his perfectly smooth features to me. "I was hoping you would tell me what that was about. It seemed important."

"You can tell that it's important just from...like...magic?" I firstly questioned, watching him chuckle at my suggestion, lowering his voice slightly as he did so.

"No, no, I can do no such thing. Maybe Geist might have some luck with that sort of thing. You seemed pretty shocked when you came out. Or, distracted at least." He explained, holding his hands up calmly in front of him. He spoke in a very calm, relaxed way, it helped ease my tensions, certainly. "But I'm just interested. If it's not my business and all, I apologize from my heart."

I sighed, struggling to maintain eye contact with the odd human in front of me, the few times I did I could only focus on the small flecks of purple that seemed to swirl in his crystal blue eyes. It was oddly distracting.

"I asked the Commander to consider our plan of action against the Blue Viper going forward," I informed, eventually. "The Commander refused. He was firm that the 'Viper King' as he called him must die. He's possibly the last chance for our species to not be totally controlled by Advent."

"Ah, that is upsetting to hear, Kassara," He comforted, lowering his head somewhat solemnly. "Don't give up hope, my friend, if an individual wishes and puts their heart towards a goal, there's no saying that something isn't achievable. Don't let one hit stop you, Kassara." His reassuring smile was somewhat infectious, the corners of his lips creased ever so slightly. "Everyone has their holes. Advent can't ever fully control their species. There will always be a way to remove them from the subjugation of those that wish to control everything."

"You believe that about Humans?" I asked, I think at this point trying to change the topic of conversation off of me and onto him to stop myself from letting my own emotions overwhelm me. There was just something about how he spoke that allowed my emotions to come to the surface in such a raw manner. When he said it, I found myself truly believing that even if we kill the Viper, there's still a way forward.

"Yes, of course. They only need to be shown how to awaken themselves. Whether that be through spiritual enlightenment; realizing their powers are self-given and not from their fake 'gods', or otherwise. Look at the Reapers, they understand that survival mustn't rely on those that wish to control you. They are certainly in no means in tune with their 'selves'." He explained, gesticulating as if he were preaching to me throughout his sentence. "I'll admit our goal is one that is significantly less difficult than the one you face. But at the same time that does not erase the challenges we must overcome together in order to achieve this. Being aided of course by allies that share common interests to ours helps."

"You're starting to sound a little like Geist there, Ty," I joked, hissing as I laughed slightly at his expense. "Like you've almost rehearsed it."

"I speak only from what I believe to be true, Kassara. When one is attuned to one's self and holds their thoughts with thorough conviction, the path ahead becomes clearer for them. The words are easier because I speak my thoughts freely." He calmly responded, not shrugging off the joke as I expected him to, but embracing it. "And you truly believe that you can save your race, I can hear your conviction." His words made me just feel a little lighter, a little bit more okay with what was happening. He was right, all was not lost just because a new opportunity presented itself but is possibly not one I could pursue. I just needed a little faith that things are going in the right direction. Because they are, I'm a part of X-Com, I'm fighting to end the subjugation on everyone, regardless of species, from the Elders. And things are getting better in that respect every day.

"Tell me, did you join with X-Com to save your species, as seems to be your goal now?" He asked, his head tilting ever so slightly off to one side. "What made you join?"

"Uh..." I paused, thinking back to when I first joined, back on the day I decided I would join. I never had my species in mind, did I? Was it purely selfish? I was going to die if I didn't join with X-Com, or at least be sold on like a slave. But it doesn't make sense to say I joined to save my life. The first thing I did was put it all on the line to save Zero. Elders, my entire time at X-Com I've put my life on the line to save others. Every mission I went on I risked it all for what I believed. And what I believed at those times wasn't that I could save my species. But if not that, then what was it that pushed me forward?

"Difficult question?" Ty finally interrupted, having given me a while of introspection with little result.

"Yeah, it is. When I joined it wasn't my goal. It still isn't...it's like an objective. A really, really, really big objective, that the goal feels like it isn't achieved without the objective completed alongside it." I tried to explain. "I just don't know what my goal was. Is." I said with a sigh. It wasn't just one thing, not one I could pin down. It was because of the injustices humans faced, it was because I needed to live. But there was definitely more reasons. Maybe I was doing it for the people I had met here? For Brick, for Zero. Echo, Firehawk, Vandal, all of those that accepted me as an individual, and made me realize how much more than a cog in a machine I was. And I did all of that without even knowing that I had the chance to save my species from the long claws of the Elder's grasp.

"What was the exact reason you offered to join X-Com then?" He pried. He still seemed laid back, calm, relaxed, though I could still sense the urgency that lay behind his eyes, the information excited him.

"To stop myself from being killed." I immediately responded, having run through it in my head already, it didn't take much to recall. But it wasn't just that, was it? I didn't offer to join X-Com. I offered to go on a mission for them. The slightly relaxed feeling that had calmed me seemed to have been pulled from within my chest, as if some sort of psionic hand had reached inside my chest to pull it from me. And in it's place, a heavy weight settled, a void that pulled matter in towards it. It wasn't a bad weight though, it was one of realization. The feelings I had felt at that time came rushing back, the experiences I have had along the way connected in such a way that it all just fitted together. I had my answer.

"And to save Zero." I said with certainty, a smile returning to my face, one I was unable to wipe off. "He was captured by my Matriarch. I offered to get him out. That was when I joined X-Com."

"Your reason for joining X-Com was putting other lives before your own? How did you ever end up on Advent's side initially." He said, I think he was trying to make a joke, tease me, though his tone of voice didn't give that away easily. I decided to answer it similar to the way he had answered mine, as if it wasn't a joke whatsoever.

"Cause that's what I believed I was doing when I was at Advent. It was what I was doing. We were Peacekeepers. It was our jobs to keep humans safe." I solemnly answered, watching as he nodded along slowly, clasping his hands together in front of his face, his two index fingers resting on his chin.

"It's food for thought, for sure." He said, the phrase confusing me immediately. I'd got used to a couple of common phrases that the humans used over my time on this ship, but this one was new. He stared at my confused features for a second before understanding the issue, correcting it himself before I needed to ask him about it myself.

"It means something to think about. Like how you give food to your body to survive, this provides sustenance to a line of thinking that can be furthered upon at a different time." He tried to explain. I don't know how someone can phrase something in such a way that I both understand it more and less than I did originally, but he managed it. "Anyway, speaking about food, it is time for lunch. Would you like to accompany me?"

"Of course," I gave my attempt at a smile back, as he began to turn to lead the way down to the cafeteria. Whilst it hadn't been horrifically long since I had breakfast, I was still fairly hungry, which I had been pushing to the back of my mind in favor of the current issue, but now I wasn't worrying so much about it, my stomach decided to let me know it was feeling neglected. But talking with Ty had helped me, at least put my thoughts into proper order. It felt like I could think with more clarity now, like it wasn't so clustered up there.

"Actually, I'll catch you back up, I'll go see if Zero and Ash want to join us." I grinned, taking a left at one of the corridor intersection once I had my friend's approval. "I'll meet you in the cafeteria!"

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 18:07 EST, 05/31/2035, Location: unknown)

The last week had been fairly brutal, no matter how much I would have thought, I didn't end up getting used to the large workload that Ash, Shen, and the other Engineer I often saw wandering around managed to deal with. At least we had finished with the guns and armor for the Liberated a few days back, they were just waiting to be dropped off there once we have finished scanning in the area we were. Shen took a little longer on the guns as she had been distracted by our new Arsenal, spending a lot of time attempting to tinker with them, but there was a lot of complaints from her that she didn't think she could put them back together if she took them apart, which meant these were now probably one-of-a-kind weapons. Whilst I held little care for the grenade, Boltcaster, and Axe, I did constantly find myself eyeing the Shadowkeeper, if what Shen said was right, this weapon was exceedingly accurate, despite the fact it was basically a handheld shotgun.

But instead of doing anything interesting up in the engineering workshop, I only spent my break times there. Otherwise, I was down in the dark denizens of the ship. It was hard to believe, and completely overlooked by myself before my punishment, but a large portion of the ship still remained unusable. Half of the potential room space of the ship was cluttered with broken machinery, old power cores, or just a large amount of debris. And I suppose this was certainly more fitting as a punishment than building armor was, but I was currently tasked with cleaning out one of the rooms full of random debris to be ready for other structures to be built there. I had spent the first few hours completely lost among the cobwebs, the strange looking alloys cluttered on the floors, broken light fixtures, support structures and wooden beams that were simply discarded on the floor. I could spend days sifting through all of the junk, and the most valuable things I'd find there were all of the metallic items that seemed lighter than they should have been. I suppose Shen could work on recovering some of the materials, and it was just up to me to clean the room out as best I could. I hoped my punishment would not take much longer than it already had.

I couldn't wait to get back onto duty, I missed being able to talk with my squadmates, my friends. Though, I know that a few people are upset after learning about what I had done. When I had gone up to meet with people in the evenings, or for any of my meals, there were only a few select people that bothered hanging around with me for longer than necessary. Elena had chewed me out for around three or four minutes talking about how she had lost any respect that she had for me, that what she thought was entirely constructed upon a lie. Goblin still hadn't spoken to me, neither had Samurai, but at least he didn't seem to be averse to my general company otherwise. I still don't know how things were with Brick. But at least everyone else seemed to understand. I hope.

But due to everyone's questioning of my actions, I found myself doubting my decisions, doubting my morals. I had spent a couple of nights since my temporary exile curled under the covers of my bed, in the tiny room I now slept in, thoughts running through my head asking what would be different if I hadn't done what I had. Even if I tried to avoid thinking about it, it was always a thought that returned to me whilst I dropped my guard. What if I had reported her? I wouldn't have ever met Kassara. She would forever be Unit 192- whatever her number was. Not the Kassara I knew, the one I had my memories of. Things would be so different, we wouldn't have allies in the Liberated, certainly. The fact we have the Matriarch as a captive is her doing also. It took a lot of fighting inside my head to convince myself that I would 100% do what I did again, and that that was the right thing to do. I wouldn't trade what I have now with Kassara for anything. She's proof I made the right choice.

"Hey, Zero?" A voice called from behind me, snapping me from my thoughts. I looked down briefly at the circular disc I had picked up, made of the light alien alloy metal, that I had just been holding for the past 5 minutes, throwing it back down onto the floor as I turned around to face the voice. Kassara's head was peeking around the door, as if asking for permission to enter into the mess of a room I was in. Upon getting my attention, the rest of her armored form slithered through the door, and she gazed around the room, looking at the mess I was currently stood in the middle of. "Damn...I didn't realize that this ship was in such disrepair...There's probably a few we could use in here, you know."

"Yeah, I'm trying to slowly sort through it. I don't really know where to start, however. This will take weeks to clear out." I sighed, making a show of looking around at the junk around my feet. "I hope I'm not in here for weeks. I don't want to be stuck here, I want to be out there fighting. This isn't my scene."

"Don't lose hope too soon, Zero. This is only temporary, the Commander wouldn't give up a soldier capable of fighting for something so small." She reassured, making her way over towards me. Her hands reached out, taking me by surprise, as her hands enclosed around mine, clasping them together between us. "I must thank you again, for what you have done for me. You don't deserve to be suffering for what you did. I wish I had a way of making it up to you, because it's only because of you I can stand here and say these things."

"Don't..." I began, a slight embarrassment pooling inside of me. I pulled my hands from her, with little resistance preventing me from doing so. "You don't have anything to make up for. I made my choice knowing it would have repercussions. I guess I was just hoping they never caught up to me." I gave a light laugh, maybe trying to convince myself it was possibly laughable, that the situation was something I would look back on in the future with a whimsical disregard for how I actually felt now. It wasn't really working. "How come you're down here, anyway?"

"Ah, was checking if you and Ash wanted to join me for dinner soon. I was going to head down at about half past the hour to meet with Brick, Firehawk, Echo, maybe a couple of others." She explained. "And...maybe we could do something after. If you're up for it, I mean." She added on. I would have missed the slight nervousness in her voice that accompanied it, if her tail tip had not belied her expression otherwise. I found myself questioning what exactly she had in mind, I was confused as to what she exactly meant.

"What did you want to do, exactly?"

"Don't really mind. Anything. Go to the bar for a drink, maybe play some poker with some other soldiers, or you know, just do something together." She started suggesting, listing the options off on her fingers, a hint of a smile appearing across her features.

"Actually poker sounds like a really good idea," I agreed happily. "I haven't played it for like a month or so. Hopefully Samurai, Deadbolt, and Vandal still have their poker chips, and want to play of course."

"Awesome," She beamed. "We can mention it to the others over dinner, and set that up for tonight. Are you going to be finished soon, so we can head off?"

"Eh..." I glanced around at the mess around me, the whole room still in tatters. I wouldn't exactly make much more progress here apart from gathering all of the smaller items in the room into a trolley to ship back up to Shen for destruction. But there was too much stuff to do that quickly. "I can go ask Shen if I can finish for the day, I've been working since like 8 this morning."

"Sure. Should I wait for you, or..?" She asked, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb.

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like it if you could wait for me. I'll only be a couple of seconds at most." I smiled back, leading the way out of the door back onto the upper floors, and headed back towards Engineering with Kassara in tow.

"So, what's been going on with you recently? I haven't really kept up with anything else. been kinda preoccupied." I asked, giving my reason as well. She seemed to hesitate at first, maybe unsure of how to answer my question best, or maybe which order to tell me things in. Either way, I got a feeling that the brief pause between my question and her response was indicative that there was a situation which caused her some discomfort.

"So, some of the soldiers went on a mission after we found the weapons in the old Skyranger shuttle. There was a separate signal that lead them to some sort of lab, but it was abandoned. There was instead a nest of Vipers there." She explained, particularly hissing her last few words, whether she was aware of it or not I wasn't sure.

"A what? Vipers? Advent?" I asked, stunned by the news. Maybe it was another rogue group that would end up fighting against Advent. Though I suppose it would be better if we just introduced them to the Liberated. Wait, did she say nest? As in breeding?

"Not Advent. Vipers. And a Viper King as well, a much larger Viper that can freeze people." She expanded, shaking her head at my initial response. I could only stare back at her in a little bit of shock. It sounded so unreal; if it had come from anybody else I would have doubted them much more than I doubted her. She continued with the story, after glancing down at me to check I had reacted appropriately. "They tried to kill him, but he escaped through some sort of rift. I don't really know what's happened to him other than that."

"A male Viper?" I asked. "I didn't realize they were a thing."

"Yes," she confirmed. "The Commander said that they have been genetically bred by some old scientist of X-Com. Not that I know who they are, or why they did that."

"Does this mean that we don't have to try and rescue or save the Vipers that Advent supposedly has?" I theorized. "If he doesn't fight for Advent, then there's no reason we should see him again. Maybe he'll create a new nest." I suggested. Kassara brooded for a few moments, her eyes fixated on the floor in front of her as she slithered along the corridors.

"I hope so, but I very much doubt it. The Commander was pretty intent on saying we had to kill him if we saw him again." She sighed, a hiss concealed between her syllables. "He doesn't want him around, he is a 'threat' to X-Com, in his eyes."

"Oh. I'm sorry that that is what has happened, Kassara. But it's not your job to carry the entire weight of your species on your shoulders. Not on your own. Maybe you should try and talk to the Commander about bringing the issue up with the Liberated." I comforted. She was avoiding my gaze, almost purposefully looking away for me.

"But it is my job, Zero," She lamented, defeat in her voice. "I can't just give up and ignore it. I don't want my species to be controlled by Advent, same as you. But I don't want my species killed by them either. And that's what's at risk. At least the Elders haven't formed population control on the breeding of your population. It's humiliating, Zero."

She turned her head to look back towards me, she didn't have to say anything else. I could see the desperation hidden behind her slit pupils, I could feel the weight of the overwhelming inferiority she felt at the situation she was in. It was her job, that's the way she saw it. She was responsible for whether Vipers and Humans could live together in harmony, without the use of cloning, at least. She brought her clawed hand up to her eye, wiping away any signs of the beginning of a tear.

"Sorry, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear. I'll stop talking." She apologized, turning back to face straight forward. I walked alongside in silence as we headed along the corridors back towards Engineering, no words coming to my mouth. I desperately wanted to say something to console her. But telling her not to worry, telling her it's going to be okay, or saying that she was doing everything she could, I don't think any of it would actually help her whatsoever. In fact, I would hazard the guess that it would only make her more irritated, except the anger would be directed at me instead. So there we walked, side by side, an alien and a human, I just wanted to savor the moment as it was. I had a thousand thoughts I wanted to convey to her, a thousand different feelings I wanted to explain, and no words that could possibly hope to do so. So I reached out, not even glancing her way as I moved. My fingers brushed past hers briefly as I moved to hold her hand, curling around her palm and gently squeezing on her scales. I turned up to face the taller Viper, our eyes meeting once more, the one thousand thoughts I wanted her to understand, all of the words I wouldn't have ever been able to find, she could finally understand. I felt her hand squeeze back gently onto mine, her thumb gently rolling along my hand for the brief moment, before we released our grasp on each other.

"Thank you, Zero." She quietly chirped to me, shooting her best attempt at a side smile at me as we approached the double doors to Engineering. I simply responded with a nod, heading in to speak with Shen as she waited outside for me.

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 18:24 EST, 06/06/2035, Location: France)

The last week had been pretty quiet on the ship. After delivering the items to Athissa We had dropped down to visit the black market, and sold a bunch of the bodies that somehow hadn't decomposed that Tygan kept in storage on the ship, alongside any spare weapon attachments we never used. I was offered the chance to go down and visit for myself...but I don't think that is something I want to do at the moment. Instead, the Commander left with a couple of other soldiers to do their dirty work. It felt like I was turning a blind eye to the immorality of the situation, but it made sense when Echo had explained that we had few ways of making any income for ourselves other than selling the items we accrued. These items included bodies that would otherwise serve research purposes or engineering purposes. Not that I'm exactly sure that's how it worked, but I didn't bother to think too much about it. In all honesty, I was more scared of what I would see down there. If I came face to face with one of my own kind completely subdued by the sick people that would take money and give money for just about anything, I don't think I could forget it.

On the other hand, I've very much enjoyed the downtime we've had on the ship. Zero finished with his Engineering punishment 3 days ago, before he really got started on the room he was supposed to clean, but at least he'd managed to do a little bit with it to help Shen before he headed off. But now he was back with the regular crew it felt like things were finally going back to normal. We had our old group back for meals, we hung out playing card games with his roommates, just talked about stuff with Brick, and managed our guarding of my Matriarch between us, though obviously not Zero, since he had been disallowed from doing so. She had quietened down since that news report claiming her as dead. I wondered what went through her head; she didn't even bother me as she usually did. Instead, she sat around, brooding over something, content at just watching faces come and go from her cell. Maybe she had taken a vow of silence from when Bradford last tried to interrogate her. I heard he got nothing useful from her, and it was a waste of time. But that's just what Brick had told me, so I'm unsure as to the validity of that statement.

As the Liberated had promised, since delivering the armor and weapons to them, or supply of food had notably expanded. It was easy to settle into the routine and accept the food being offered, but by contrast, the new meats that they had on offer just tasted so much nicer. It reminded me of my life back in Advent, a little. It's the small trivial things I did enjoy about being a guard, such as the food. I never really realized how much I missed it. Alongside the food, the Liberated offered to restock our supply of alcohol that the humans liked to drink. It was already unpleasant the previous occasion I had it, I doubt I'd like the 'improved' variants the Liberated had somehow managed to find would be much better. Nor did I want to drink again, particularly given what happened the last time. I still cringe about that every other night, it's like my brain wants me to remember it and dwell on it every time I want sleep. Whatever the case is, both of us have moved past it, or at least tried to in my case. I'm glad he's treating it as if nothing happened, because I know there are plenty of soldiers on board that still give me enough of a glance when I'm around Zero that lets me know what they are thinking regarding the matter; everybody already thought we were an item, just trying to keep it hidden.

His release from his Engineering duties was definitely planned, though. At least, I thought they were, otherwise it was a little odd how well they coincided with the time at which the Skirmishers offered a mission to X-Com, they located a VIP in Western Europe that they wanted to rescue. People had been guessing at who was going to be going onto the mission, and whilst there was more debate about others, most agreed that Mox was likely to go on the mission, understandably, since his people were the ones offering the mission to us. I was still going to be hedging my bets on Zero being placed on the mission, and I hoped I could join him too, alongside Mox.

The rumbling sound of the ship reverberated through my coils, bringing me back to the present from my thoughts. Zero looked back towards me from his shooting stall, and started putting his rifle back on the wall amongst the other 'magnetic' weaponry. I'll admit, the petty side of me enjoyed that my weapon simply looked so much sleeker than theirs did. And I couldn't really speak for shooting power, but firing plasma seemed better than firing rounds of hot alloy.

"I suppose that's the sign that we've landed" He commented. "I hope I get picked for the squad. I'm feeling good about my aim. I feel like I have to prove myself again though."

I nodded along to his words, being reminded of the feeling of inadequacy I had when I first switched sides, the feeling that everyone doubted what you were doing, if you were really on their side. It's not a position I would wish on any of the soldiers, not in the least Zero.

We agreed to head back up towards the armory, just in case one of both of us were chosen, it would just make it easier for the person chosen to start getting ready sooner. However, we were only half of the way up before the intercom crackled above us, reading out the 6 names for those going onto the mission.

"Mox, Kassara..." Bradford started, Zero grinning at me with a thumbs up as my name was called. "Brick, Vandal, Twitch, Zero." I returned his smile to him, clasping my hand on his shoulder in congratulations, the same as I had seen several soldiers do to each other.

"I knew they took you off punishment for a reason. Keep me covered out there, Zero." I congratulated, as we upped our pace up to the armory.

"I've got your back if you've got mine," He shot back at me, blinking with one of his eyes as he did so. I puzzled over the possibility of what he did, as I had done several times before when I had seen others winking, notably Ruby or Brick. I had tried to practice every time in the mirror whenever I had a shower, but I just simply couldn't do it. And it's not like I have the same eyelids humans have, since I 'blink' using a membrane to the side of my eyes, I suppose it works in the same way, but it's just not the same. But I couldn't blink with only one, as the humans were able to. I was fairly impressed, along with several other things they were able to do. Whistling, being a good example. The first time I heard Brick whistling I panicked thinking there was another animal in the room with us.

I removed the thought once more, as we opened the door to the armory, the only other person there at the moment was Mox, currently doing an armor check, his helmet on the desk in front of him.

"Greetings, the two of you," Mox greeted, not turning his head until after welcoming us. He looked at us with his oddly inhuman face, the implants along the side of his head easily visible to the two of us. He bug-eyes flitted down the two of us in a studious fashion, before he returned to focusing on his equipment. "It's nice to see you back on the front line, Zero. You offer your full potential this way."

"Hello to you too, Mox," He returned, heading to his bench. I ambled over to mine, listening to them as they continued talking, whilst half-mindedly putting my armor on, as was routine. "Looking forward to the mission. Do you know what it's about?"

"I only know as much as the Commander has seen fit to tell us so far. I am unaware of the significance of the individual we are setting out to rescue." He blankly responding. I heard the clunking and clicking as he put on his helmet, moving onto his gun.

"Ah. Either way, will be good to see you on the field. Elena had a lot of kind words for how Skirmishers fought." He responded. I finished with my armor, picking up my weapon, giving it a quick once over before turning around to face them. Zero had already finished getting ready; it appears his time off didn't make him forget how to set up for a mission so efficiently. "I always forget how good that armor looks on you," He started, his eyes falling to me. "Shen really did a good job on that armor." He disguised the compliment. I couldn't tell how I should have felt about what he said, whether it was just an off-hand comment, but my brain thought it may have been more. The Matriarch's words echoed in my head, telling me how she knew that he liked me, that it was obvious. It helped stave away the doubts formed by his compliment, I knew the Matriarch didn't know him. I knew him, he was just paying me the compliment. Nothing more.

"Thank you, Zero." I said, nodding in appreciation. The door opened before Mox and Zero could return to their conversation, the rest of the soldiers filtering into the room, making enough noise and commotion as they armed themselves, though mostly it was just Brick being loud, as usual. Though even her cheery, booming voice settled as the door opened once more, Bradford stepping into the room, not looking twice at the array of arms hung up on the walls, on the benches around the room.

"Alright squad, we've got a big mission today. We've located an important VIP underneath Paris, stuck in the tunnels. Advent are searching for him currently, we must beat them there. Once in, you won't be able to extract until you complete the mission. There's no room for error in this folks, be on your 'A-game' today. Listen to the Commander and me as we give orders, and this should be a cakewalk."

I had so many questions about what he was talking about with 'A-game' and 'cakewalk', but I held my tongue, as he ordered for us to leave and board onto the ship. So onto the Skyranger we went, all strapped into the seats, my tail pouring into the space on the floor beneath me, as it always did. Vandal spoke excitedly to Brick about the mission, the conversation punctuated by a crude joke about exploring tunnels, resulting in laughter from the five humans on board.

We dropped into the street, rain crashing down on my armor as we took the ropes down to the ground onto the street below. The sonorous metallic sound the heavy rain made on my armor may have given our position away, if there were any hostiles in sight, but currently, the street we stood in remained empty, a manhole cover on a few steps in front of the squad. Zero slung his rifle onto his back, and between him and Vandal, then lifted the manhole cover out of the ground, sliding the heavy metal to the side, revealing the dimly lit opening into the sewers below. I led the way down, doing a double check to make sure my rifle was set to automatic, diving headfirst down the hole, as we had been trained to descend ladders in Advent. My hand reached out for the nearest rung, gripping onto it, holding me long enough for me to extend my tail, quickly wrapping it around the next rung, and repeating the process of dropping my head down. I slowed my descent slight with my muscle strength, for which I was thankful, my outreached hand hitting the floor in front of me. The other soldiers quickly made their way down the ladder, Brick following up the rear, sliding the manhole cover back on top above her.

"Watch your fingers," Vandal warned, from just below her.

"What do you think I'm doing, you knob?" She jokingly responded, her voice slightly strained with the effort she had to put into moving the cover.

"Not watching your fingers." He dimly quipped, continuing his descent. I could see Brick pausing her action of closing the cover at Vandal's stupid response. Zero and Mox joined me at the bottom, both with weapons at the ready. The sewers were dimly lit with elliptical lanterns, providing limited light intermittently down the first section. It was taking a small while for my eyes to properly adjust to the reduced light, but we could move on as they did so. We moved up alongside the stream of water flowing beside us, following turning instructions given to us by the Commander, until we came to a large metal door with a wheel opening mechanism on the front. Brick again took charge, placing her weapon on the floor, leaning it against the wall as she gripped onto the spokes of the wheel, and with a grunt, the lock gave way, the wheel gradually seeming to get easier to turn as she unlocked it. Once fully opened, she grabbed her weapon again, Vandal waiting on one side of the door whilst Brick was instructed to open it. The two burst into the room ahead, before orders came through for us to follow, taking up positions in the room ahead, with Zero waiting on the door we just entered through. The new room was a mess of walkways and piping, water dripping from cracks in the concrete ceiling, with no machinery in sight.

"Alright squad, enemy movement ahead of you, we're approaching the last known location of our informant. Move quickly, we need to reach him soon. They won't know you're here yet, so make use of the fact you can get the drop on them." Bradford informed us, his voice coming through on my comms device. The Commander told us all where to advance to, Mox leading the front with Vandal, as we pushed through the room, past pipes that were twice as thick as my body. Pools of water lay around the room, splashing as we ran through them, though we ignored them as we moved through the room otherwise.

"I've got visuals on the first squad. Elder Kracsad. A Purifier and two Troopers." Mox whispered back through his comms. I looked ahead, my eyes following on from where he was pointing. I brought my scope to my eye, watching the three Advent units strolling along their patrol route, no words shared between them. Purifiers were the Advent troops armed with flamethrowers. They were mostly there to deal with Lost populations, but they were just as effective in a fight. Their armor was a bright orange, with chunkier helmets that covered their entire face, with a backpack full of fuel on the back of their jagged-looking plated-armor. From the position we were in, both Zero and I had a shot. We could easily take this fight without any trouble. Indeed, the Commander ordered me to take the shot on one of the Troopers, placing Zero on Overwatch, whilst keeping everyone available to pounce on whoever left standing. I traced my scope over the head of the middle Advent Trooper, his armor, his helmet clear in my sights, as I placed the crosshair between his eyes, as he came to a halt looking over in our direction. I didn't wait any longer, I fired my beam of plasma, the green lighting up in front of my face, the entire room flashing up as the bolt flew past the walls, and straight into the Trooper. His body flew back with the force of the weapon I was using, the rest of the squad splitting to find cover. Zero's shot followed mine very shortly, flying into the chest of the Purifier, the orange, heavy-armored target falling to the floor. I had to admire his shot, it was much harder than mine was, he had to hit a moving target with a much slower projectile. Mox leaped to life to finish the last Trooper, springing to his feet, and firing a grapple at the last target before it could reach cover. The hook wrapped around the Trooper's leg, as it fell hard to the ground with a crack, his weapon falling from its hands. It tried to grab onto something, anything as Mox winded his grapple back, raising his double-edged wrist blade into the air before he brought it down onto the struggling enemy beneath him. All struggling ceased, as the silver glint on his small blade was replaced by the metallic sliver of murky blood.

"Good kills, but they'll know we're here now. Let's move forward." The Commander complimented, the small validation satisfying to me as I moved up behind the rest of my team, Zero and I catching up to the rest. We closed in around a door, opened by Vandal, each of us taking different angles as we watched it open. As soon as Vandal opened the door, in the frame stood a soldier made of purple shimmering energy. I only got a small glimpse of it before the being erupted in light from within it, the purple fire resulting in the explosion engulfing Twitch and Vandal stood at the door. They were thrown backward into the piping behind them, the doorway and surrounding wall crumbling away, our vision into the room ahead of us no longer obscured, and the explosion attracting the attention of a Captain and two Stun Lancers.

"Watch where you step, Commander..." A voice rang out, through the pipes, through the walls, in our heads. "Death lurks around every corner..."

I put the voice to one side, half believing I was hallucinating from the explosion, trying not to let the fear bubbling up inside me to overcome my nerve. The Commander's voice echoed in my ears, telling us to target the Stun lancers first. One Lancer took cover behind a railing beside a walkway, it would not be enough to save him. I shot my round first, the plasma piercing through his cover, the cry of pain audible to our squad. I could see Vandal and Twitch trying to recover, spending two medkits on themselves; one each. Brick followed orders from the Commander, pulling the launcher from her back, loading in one of the frag grenades she carried, and firing it at the position of the second Lancer, destroying the boiler he was hidden behind. The now flanked target was easy pickings for Vandal, his shotgun splintering through his exposed target. Zero darted forward as Bradford barked for him to approach, watching him slide across the dusty ground, finding half cover in front of him, before pulling one of the strange ornaments from his holster; a small wooden-stocked pistol, aiming it at the Lancer I had already hit. The shot from the pistol erupted in a pile of black smoke, obscuring the huge hole in the wall left by the explosion, covering our position from the remaining Captain as everyone got their bearing.

"It's the Chosen Warlock, he's looking for a fight. Keep your guards up, we've got a tough fight ahead. Advent is calling in reinforcements on our position, so we need to be ready." Bradford barked, giving us orders, trying to keep our heads in the right mindset. I could feel myself fighting back against the panic, trying to calm myself again. Vandal and Twitch looked to be okay, both unphased by the explosion, though both definitely not unhurt.

"Oh, Commander, it's good to finally meet you on the field of battle! We shall get to test the Elder's strength against yours, I am sure I know who shall be victorious..." The voice continued to taunt, echoing through the room. Our momentary respite was broken as shots rifled through the smoke concealing our position, only narrowly missing Zero as he waited, the smoke dissipating under the heat of the alloy passing through it. A red flare over to the right of the captain marked the drop zone for the new reinforcements, as a priest dropped in, alongside a MEC and a Shieldbearer. I cursed at the sight of the heavy-support unit in white powered armor, the large white pauldrons on his shoulders bearing the Advent sigil.

"The Elders bring strength to me..." The voice reverberated again, a purple light flashing over to the other side of the Officer, a second priest seeming to appear into existence, summoned to the spot by the Warlock himself.

"Quickly, target the Shieldbearer before he can aid his team!" The Commander ordered me. I lined up my shot, as the Shieldbearer attempted to find his nearest cover. I fired my shot, sure that my crosshair lay on the center of mass of the unit, but no body fell down after I fired, the shot didn't even connect.

"Ahahaha!" The voice mocked my miss. "The Elders punish you for your treachery, Viper."

"Fuck off," I growled under my voice, watching as Zero fired his shot at the Shieldbearer, taking him down for me.

"Don't let him get to you, concentrate. Mox, take an advanced position, fire on the Priest. Brick, fire your canon at the Mec, and Twitch finish the Mec off." The Commander reassured me before issuing his orders, all followed out precisely by the rest of the squad. Mox moved first, his speed unrivaled by any of us, laying down fire on the position of the Captain, whilst Brick and Twitch ruined the Mec, the crackling of the failing circuitry punctuating its death.

The Captain fired back at Mox, hitting his target square in the shoulder, though Mox's armor seemed to eat most of the damage, as the two Priests both pulled out their psi-amps, weapons designed to amplify psionic waves from the wielder. In an instance, Brick and Twitch both fell to their knees, in some sort of paralysis, unable to move, respond, anything. Another flash of purple light appeared at the back of the room we were entering, the Warlock stepping through and into the light, his gaunt features easy for those of us still standing to see. His shock white hair, wrinkled face, his furrowed brow all annotated by the red-eared helmet he wore.

"Like lambs to the slaughter..." He commented, approaching his position forward, not fearing our attacks, as purple light erupted from his mind, pushed forward to our position by his hand, seeking its nearest target. The purple waves shot forward towards Zero, still stood behind low cover. I called out to warn him, but it was too late. I saw the purple light grip around his head, in a similar fashion to how I had seen the similar light wrap around Brick's head when attacking the Templar base. Zero lifted off the ground, his arms limp by his side as the psionic force from the Warlock encapsulated his mind, before gradually returning to a soft landing. Zero slowly turned around to face me, his pistol already aimed in front of him. I was paralyzed by his eyes, completely overtaken by a pink light, no iris, no pupil remained. I could only stand in shock as he leveled his weapon at my head, arm outstretched.

"Humanity is so weak-willed, it's not even a challenge to turn you into puppets yourselves!" He taunted, watching the situation turn from favorable to us, to what seemed like impossible. Mox was split off from Vandal and I, Zero standing between our positions. I heard the Commander ordering Vandal and I to move, to retreat to a safe position out of Zero's line of sight. But the words were pointless. I wasn't listening. It wasn't the Commander's voice I had in my head. It wasn't the Warlock's. It was Zero's. The one compliment he made before we set out. I made my mind up long before Bradford of the Commander gave their orders. I darted forwards, my mind screaming at me for my stupidity, my heart yelling with as much force in the opposite direction to my brain, pushing me on. Zero's shot split from his pistol, the black smoke not erupting in front of him this time. The shot splintered into a shower of bullets, all grazing my armor, providing a minor pang of pain to my chest, but my adrenaline was already carrying me forward. I wasn't thinking of anyone else, anything else, but him. I must save him, there's no other way.

I dived at his position, tackling him to the floor before he could fire a second shot at me, the purple fire in his eyes flaring as I hit him, bringing us both hard to the floor. I could feel myself panicking, but I knew I could handle it, I had to hold myself together.

"Kassara, what are you doing!" Bradford yelled down the comms, throwing noise at a deaf soldier. My mind focused on nothing else but the human in front of me, struggling desperately under my grasp as I pulled him to the side, out of the line of sight from the enemies in the room ahead. A thousand thoughts were going through my head, but I didn't need to pull a single coherent thought in order to know what to do. I just knew. I found myself staring into his eyes, my gun on the floor beside us, my hands either side of his head, clamping down onto his soft skin, burying beneath the hair on the sides of his head. His mouth hung agape, as I donated every last piece of mental fortitude I had, wishing for him to return, ignoring the heckling in front of me, all of the noise in the comms. Even though he was saying nothing, all I could hear was Zero.

 _"Please...Zero...You can do it...stay with me..."_ I pleaded, my desperate whisper sounding more shattered and broken to me than I had imagined it would, bringing my face closer as I could see his lips twitch, one of his eyelids quiver. My head was less than 10 centimeters from his, his breath falling on my snout, enough of a sign for me that he was still there.

 _"Please come back..."_


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 20:31 EST, 06/06/2035, Location: France)

 _"Please come back…"_

The words pierced the purple haze in front of me, coming from the warped demon gripping me, the upper and bottom lips attached to each other by strings of flesh as they moved, its eyes flaming yellow, with skin that looked to melt constantly, shifting between various shades of brown, the only clear image my head could produce. I knew it wasn't real, but that didn't change anything I could do. My hands moved for me, pulling away from the monster's steel grip, raised to its steely exterior, trying desperately to push the being off me, fighting against my unwillingness to resist the horror in front of me. I might have been fooled by the fog that encapsulated my vision, if her voice hadn't weaved their way into my head. I knew it was Kassara trying to hold me down. I could feel her pushing me down with her immense weight, her tail starting to coil around my chest, pinning my arms back down to my sides. All the while begging for my return.

I could feel her pressure on me start to release before I realized what was happening, but quickly after, the amalgamation of horror dissipating in front of me. the eyes fading from their raging yellow to a crimson red, as the purple fog began to part for the face of the concerned Viper in front of me.

"Zero?" She gently whispered, her grip loosening from the sides of my head, alleviating the pain of her claws digging into my skin. "Zero!" She repeated, excitement in her voice.

"Is…Is that actually working?" Bradford's voice echoed in my comm. The background slowly started to refocus, no longer obscured by the smog that clouded my mind, the muffled voices beginning to clear. "What the…"

"What is the meaning of this?!" The Warlock growled, his voice still within my mind, though I don't think that had anything to do with his mind control. "No-one can resist my powers, no one is stronger than the will of the Elders!" He cursed. I mouthed a thank you to my alien counterpart, watching the most Viper smile come to her face for the briefest of moments, before we were both back in fighting mode. I grabbed my pistol from the floor beside my head, just as she retrieved her rifle, spinning around to face the angered face of the Chosen warrior still stood unstirring from the back of the room, still out of cover.

Whilst Bradford was still complaining and trying to figure out what happened, I could hear his voice dim to a mute, as the Commander spoke over him, not missing a beat to understand the situation, or maybe not even understanding it, but he didn't hesitate to act on the result. Orders were barked out to all of us, trying to reposition us relative to the enemies still around, and of course the threat that still lurked ahead of us. Mox was still in the room ahead, currently taking cover behind the railing of one of the small walkways, the small bridge providing an easy route over the pipes that lay around him. He shot his grapple out ahead of him, behind the three Advent troops that had been laying fire on him, onto the top of a small building that must have contained the controls for the equipment in the room. He fired down on the soldiers below him, emptying his magazine in four quick bursts, firing three times at the Captain, and once at the priest that had already taken a shot from Mox earlier. The entire action was so quick and coordinated his adversaries didn't have any time to move or react to him. The Captain fell quickly to the gunfire, whilst the priest dropped down his knees, in the same fashion as Brick and Twitch when they were encapsulated in their psionic prisons. Its armor was scratched and burned from the weapons fire as the purple ring surround its slumped form, the only indication to it still being alive was the slow movement of its chest as it breathed.

The Warlock still out in the open, I listened to the Commander shout and all of us to shoot on the Warlock, ignoring the priest completely. Brick, Twitch, and Vandal had to move up to get their shots, all of us flanking him. Kassara moved around me, taking position behind the wall, leveling her rifle at the Warlock first, her round hitting his shoulder, staggering him backward. I followed suit, laying my sniper rifle against the rubble in front of me to steady my shot, striking his chest. Brick's volley of shots flew into the Warlock, his anguished cries erupting in our comms, his screams fueling our fire. Twitch fired his Boltcaster at the tormented being, the bolt lodging itself into his armor, as he dropped to one knee, but his movement was quick, as he quickly regained his footing, pushing himself back up onto his feet before he could fall properly. And the movement was just enough to throw of Vandal's shot.

"Your mistake, Terrorist," The being growled back over our comms, his voice syncopated with his pain. It was his turn to move faster than we could react, pulling the rifle from his back, a burst of fire exploding from the tip of the barrel, Vandal's body clattering to the floor, skidding backward under the fire.

"Vandal! No!" Brick cried out, a hand grasping out towards the body of her late friend, knowing it was already too late. He lay still on the floor, his shotgun clattering beside him, the Warlock cackling at the fate of his quarry.

"Never underestimate your enemy, Commander..." He began through ragged breaths, clearly suffering from the barrage he had just taken from the rest of the team. A purple light engulfed him before I could think to line up and taken another shot, nothing left of the being, he just vanished, as if the light had teleported him straight through the ceiling. But his voice didn't stop, not thwarted by his lack of presence. "This is only the beginning, you will succumb to the Elders, and all those lives you put in peril will be lost, Commander. I anticipate our next battle will be even further in my favor, the Elder's shall see your defeat by my hands..."

"He got away..." Bradford annotated the end of the Warlock's taunting. The Commander didn't hesitate, barking out more orders for us to deal with the last remaining enemy. The Priest pulled the amp from his side, purple light shooting out and enveloping Mox. I watched as Kassara followed the Commander's instructions, flipping the switch on her weapon as she charged forward, the light receding back from Mox as she killed the priest with a quick burst of fire as she repositioned ahead.

"He got him...how...just...?" Brick muttered to herself, echoing my own thoughts. A blink of an eye, one mistake, and a friend's life was now gone. The Warlock had been so quick, almost anticipating that Vandal would miss his shot, despite the unlikelihood of such a thing occurring; he had a flank shot. He never missed those. The one roommate that I felt I got along with the most, the one that I thought was most accepting of having Kassara on the ship, he was now gone. In his stead, an empty bed, another slot to be filled. Whilst we certainly didn't have a shortage of Rangers, aside from Goblin he was always the first pick. His major rank meant nothing now he was dead.

"Brick, grab Vandal. We can at least take him with us and not leave him to the rats." The Commander coldly instructed, Brick obeying her orders, dashing over to where he lay. I didn't want to look at the damage, I knew that the Warlock's shots had been accurate and deadly. I didn't need to see anything else. The team pushed ahead, as ordered to us by the Commander, with Brick taking up the rear of the squad instead of the front for once. Bradford took over the comms to tell us that the VIP we needed was right ahead, with enemy movements around us, converging on our position. It looked like they realized where we were fighting towards, maybe they figured out where the VIP was. We were approaching a small enclosed building, the walls damaged and tattered, allowing us to see through to the other side. If I had to hedge my bets, our man was either hiding out here, or he'd long since scarpered off into the rest of the tunnels. But the Commander was fairly confident that we were headed in the right direction.

Tentatively, Mox took the lead, approaching the door, and slowly opening it with his barrel, ready to shoot at anything that moved towards him. I saw him pause halfway through opening the door, raising his fingers to the side of his helmet just after.

"Target identified, VIP in tow. What's our orders?" Mox barked, his voice distorted slightly in comparison to other humans.

"We're trying to find the best extraction point, Skyranger is en route. Hold our position until Firebrand arrives." Bradford responded, his low voice monotonous through my earpiece. I glanced over to Brick, with the limp for of Vandal on her shoulders. She readjusted his body on her shoulders, the movement causing her to splash the puddle she was standing in.

"Are you X-Com?" He fearfully mumbled, his voice hesitant as he stared at us. A simple nod from Mox answered his question. "Thank the Elders..." He unconsciously muttered, seeming to collapse into a small huddle. The poor guy clearly didn't know what he had gotten himself into, he was terrified.

"You need to be ready to move as soon as we give the word, you got that?" Twitch told him in a reassuring tone. The man with gaunt features and short brown hair nodded repeatedly, doing little to make us sure he wasn't just going to panic at the first sight of gunfire.

"You heard him. Take up defensive positions, I don't know how many of them we'll have to hold off, but they're approaching your position fast." The Commander continued, his remark preceding his orders of where to set up. There was a flimsy bit of pipework that snaked up one of the section of the walls of the room that wasn't reduced to rubble, allowing me and Twitch to take our positions on the roof of the small room, or what remained of it, overlooking the spacious expanse of water and pipes around us. Kassara used her grappling hook to join us, the three of us marking a different area until told otherwise. Brick and Mox stayed hunkered down inside the room with the VIP, who I hadn't been able to have a good look at so far. It was hard to concentrate fully, the stale smell of the room was really starting to become noticeable. It smelled like the place hadn't seen maintenance in years. I was thankful it wasn't also completely dusty, though that may just be because the room was more humid than normal; it made you feel slightly wet just being in the room.

"Enemy signatures inbound. They're coming in through the ceilings, keep your eyes out." Bradford warned. No sooner had he finished his sentence, than areas of the ceiling started to crumble, little chunks of cement pattered down onto the floor, splashing in the puddles underneath. The Commander readjusted our positions so that Kassara and I were looking over one of the crumbling patches of ceiling, and Mox, Brick, and Twitch kept watch over the other. I trained my scope on the ground underneath the disturbance, my breath held, waiting for any movement in my lens. Without warning, my lens was filled with a brilliant, bright red, burning into my eyes. I pulled my face from my scope, the culprit behind the new light was a red flare that was thrown down through the cracks, and with my eyes so used to the lowlight of the tunnels, the flares only served to blind me temporarily. I watched as a Trooper and a Sectoid nimbly landed on the floor from the now much larger hole in the roof of the tunnels. Spotting us, they quickly scarpered for cover, splitting in opposite directions. I raised my rifle to my eye, tracing the retreating black-armored form, listening to the whir of my barrel as it started winding up, before the satisfying whizz of the projectile launching, downing the Trooper in one clean hit. My alloy cross-fired with the green plasma fired from Kassara's weapon, striking the Sectoid as he darted for cover, in the shadows, out of sight behind some piping. The shot connected, staggering but not felling its target. He was going to wait for a better time to strike us.

I glanced over towards the other half of our team. They had taken down a Trooper between them, but another Trooper and a Captain still stood, and were firing back on our position. Brick took a hit from the Captain's rifle, the alloy skimming off of her shoulder armor. She barely flinched under the hit, just moving slightly to try and get some more cover. She managed to downplay how much it must have actually hurt, telling from experience the pain was immense, but the level of tolerance was probably pretty different. But my eyes caught something else whilst looking over my shoulder. The noticeable disruption of more patches of ceiling. They weren't done. There were even more reinforcements.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck," The man whispered to himself repeatedly. "They're coming for me, they're coming!" He sounded like he was moments away from breaking into tears. We could only leave him to his fretting, and pray he kept his composure. It's not like he had much of an option otherwise.

"Sir, there's more coming. How long until extraction arrives?" I muttered, followed by silence for the briefest of moments in my head, before the Commander made his choices. He ordered Kassara to move around to cover the new groups converging upon us, I was to wait for the Sectoid, and shoot it with the Shadowkeeper I had holstered. I rested my rifle in my left hand, my hand brushing over the stock of my pistol, gripping the firm wood and pulling it out and ready. I held the weapon out in front of me, unable to peel my eyes from where I had last spotted the Sectoid run to, sitting silently in wait for my quarry. I wanted to look over my shoulder desperately, it was undeniably difficult to not get distracted, even more so as I listened to the gunfire start to fly behind me. But I mustn't tear my eyes away from where I was watching. And sure enough, maybe hoping that the gunfire showed we were too distracted to deal with him, the Sectoid showed itself, making a break towards our building. One shot of my pistol quickly put a stop to the attempt, the crack of the Shadowkeeper juxtaposing the magnetic fire of the other weapon. As soon as I had taken my shot, the Commander repositioned me, to fill in the blanks in my mind. From the previous squad, only the one Trooper remained, whilst 4 more Troopers had descended from the route above, 2 of them already dead. I took my place behind one of the structural pillars that formed part of the wall of the building the VIP was currently still hidden within. From where I was on top of the roof, I had sight of everyone, but I had no time to properly aim my weapon. Instead, the Commander instructed me to fire my pistol a second time, though the splinters of my shot did little more than scratch the armor of the Trooper in sight, no real damage done to the target.

I retreated back to my cover just in time to hear the crack of hot alloy smashing into the wall I hid behind, I could feel the reverberations through me, thankful I had managed to avoid the weapons fire. I could hear as more suppressing fire was laid on our team, hearing the groan of Twitch as he possibly took some fire from one of the enemies, as they made their way closer to our position. We were gonna be overrun if they kept coming, and I didn't think they were gonna run out any time soon, as I saw two more red flares drop through the ceiling.

"Commander, we need extraction now, we can't hold them off for much longer," I heard Brick call into the comms channel. With no immediate response, I began to worry there wasn't an answer that could be given to her statement, as more Troopers fell from the ceiling, adding to the wave we had to burn through. I could see one of them pointing at our position, shouting out more unintelligible words in the Elder's tongue. I could feel my nerves building up inside me, terrified that we were all just going to fight off hordes of enemies as a last bastion, the feeling fleeting but petrifying at the same time. It wasn't how I imagined we'd go out. I had only thought about it for the best part of half a second, but I found myself clinging to the thought of losing Kassara, the thought making me feel hollow.

"Alright, the Skirmishers have found an extraction point for you. Blue flare behind the building you're holed up in, everyone double time it to extraction!" The Commander barked, the silence in response to Brick more understandable now. Kassara was the first to break away from her cover. Her meandering form seemed liquid as she darted away from her cover, her movement drawing the fire of the Troopers approaching our position. I don't think I saw a single shot connect, which probably meant the coast was clear for the rest of us to make our break. As the Commander instructed, we made a break for the blue-flared zone, ropes hanging down from the ceiling for us to grab onto. I jumped down from the building, hurdling one of the railings on the top, and splashing in a small puddle as I landed. I could hear the pitter patter of our boots as we ran across the wet floor, the sound threatening to be drowned out by the weapons fire behind us and by the shouting of their cursed language.

I was the second last in the group to reach the ropes, Kassara had already disappeared up through the dark hole in the ceiling ahead of us, Brick with Vandal on her shoulders was struggling up one of the ropes herself. The Skirmisher was just a couple of paces ahead of me, his breathing heavy, rapid, and ragged as he sprinting, hands pre-emptively reaching for the ropes ahead. As soon as he grabbed it he was hoisted up, leaving just Twitch and I. Grabbing on of the ropes alongside Twitch, I made my ascent, pausing briefly to let Twitch fit through the gap ahead of me. I allowed myself one glance back, watching the Advent Peacekeepers just coming through the building now, their weapons beginning to line up with me in their sights. I wasn't going to give them the opportunity to find a hit on me. I powered my way up, my arms hoisting me through the hole above quick enough that the few shots loosed by my enemies could only crack into the ceiling, finding no targets. I clambered up, the lighting so much darker than where we had been, though that would be the fault of the flares. I could only see a few meters ahead of me, following Twitch as we moved forward, our boots splashing through water the entire time. Our breaths echoed around us, off of the floors, the walls, and the ceiling, all of it must have been fairly enclosed. But the smell was the most notable feature, it smelled rancid, I felt disgusted breathing in the breaths I did, but I had no choice but to do that. As my vision started to clear, I realized we were running along what looked to be an old sewage route, similar to the first though with a deeper section of stale water stagnating down the middle as we trecked along the side, the stream overflowing slightly. There was no lighting save for the light from ahead, probably from the helmet of Mox.

We moved through the tunnels for a couple of minutes, keeping up the pace despite the weight of the weaponry we wore. The VIP was looking a little worse for wear, he seemed to be struggling more than we were, though I wasn't particularly surprised. We started slowing as we approached our endpoint, our group clustering around another ladder, with a few broken rungs, but nothing that couldn't be traversed. Brick lead the way, allowing me to look at the extra member; a skirmisher clad in mostly red armor, lacking the neck fur Mox wore with his set, but with the same armor otherwise. He must have been the one to throw the ropes down to us so we could make our escape.

Bright light interrupted our thoughts as Brick pushed away the cover above us, sliding it across above her. The white light was blinding, and it illuminated the greyness of the water, and the insane amount of dust in the air. We must have been breathing in so much bad air, it would be a relief to finally get the taste of something fresh once we were out. I could already hear the dampened 'chopping' sound of the Skyranger above. I waited my turn as everyone ascended the ladder, in a dreary, beaten silence, all wanting to get on the Skyranger and get out of here. Following up the rear, watching every soldier make their way to the surface and exit from the illuminated hole above me, I finally made the ascent myself. Every step up the ladder brought fresher air to my lungs, more light to my eyes, a step closer to being back home. I could feel the rain hitting my face as I looked up, reaching up to grab the final rung, marking my freedom from the sewers below. Waiting for me was a rope dangling down from the Skyranger, Twitch just taking his one up, leaving just the one for me. I gratefully reached out, grabbing the rope and tugging twice, letting myself be lifted towards safety.

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 20:43 EST, 06/06/2035, Location: France)

I carefully removed the shoulders and greaves of my armor, throwing it down on the empty seat opposite me, it's occupant instead laying on the floor, eyes closed, motionless. I could never bear to look much at the body, the same as when we had captured the Matriarch. The sight brought a sour taste to my tongue, acid to my throat. It was never easy to see someone I had known die. It wasn't the same as seeing one of the Troopers fall. Not when I was a Peacekeeper. They were drones. Here lay a person. I knew them, I knew who they were and what they were like. And it is like none of that mattered anymore. I peered to my side as Zero appeared over the edge, the ramp starting to close as soon as he set foot onto the deck, swaying slightly as the ship began to start flying off. He grabbed onto a handle on the wall to stop his fall, easing his way towards us. He fell into the seat beside me, placing his rifle next to his seat on the other side of himself.

As I looked over to the VIP, Zero regained my attention, as he placed a hand on the side of my arm. I watched him mouth something, giving my arm a small squeeze as he did so, shooting me a brief, warm smile afterward. I leaned down towards him, asking him to repeat himself, due to the fact I couldn't read lips.

"I was just saying thank you. For what you did back there." He explained, his voice only raised slightly above a whisper. "I don't know what you did, but it worked. So, seriously. Thanks. I'm so glad to have you watching my back."

I returned his smile to him, as best as I could, but it was too hard to hold for more than a second. I appreciated his sentiment, for sure, but I couldn't handle the emotion properly at the same time as managing the loss of a friend. He didn't bother waiting for any response, if he did expect one anyway, simply turning and facing forward, joining the silence we were all sat in otherwise. He didn't do anything wrong, he followed the Commander's instructions to the letter. It shouldn't have been a risk to be shooting at a flanked target, but that vile, purple abomination decided his fate regardless. I could feel the ember of my sadness encapsulated by a flame of hate. Hate for the Chosen. Hate for Advent. Hate for the Elders. We may not have been the closest, but he was a friend. A good friend. A good friend that was gone now.

To add to the conflict of feelings I constantly wondered why I didn't feel the same way when we faced our losses on the previous mission, the death of two Vipers. I felt upset, angry, sure, but it didn't feel so _real._ So vivid. It felt dulled in comparison to now. I questioned where my allegiance really lay, if I cared for a humans death more than my own kind, when they were fighting for the same freedom. I felt stupid, knowing that I would be devastated at the loss of Brick or Zero in comparison to any Viper I knew, but I could hear the Matriarch in my mind, some sort of apparition of her telling me how backwards wired my brain must be to have a more intense reaction with the death of Vandal than with Ethera, or Astrith.

"I must thank you, X-COM, for helping get me out of that…er, situation," The man finally spoke up, his accent in the same vein as the good doctor aboard the Avenger, the one that ran the medical center. "I knew it was a risk sending that signal…I'm just happy that it was you who arrived first." He spoke nervously, sat down on one of the seats in the corner of the hold, out of the way of the rest. "I'm sorry you had to lose someone, however."

"You're welcome, but stop trying to make us feel better about Vandal." I snapped at the man.

"It is for a greater cause…!" He started, but a quick glare in his direction interrupted his statement.

"I don't care if it was for a greater cause. Unless your research or whatever it is you do is going to be information that potentially saves hundreds of people, I honestly wish you could take his place." I venomously spat at him, watching him recoil further.

"I think you'll find the information he was researching was worth the loss of life, Kassara. As upset as we all are that something potentially avoidable occurred, this man was crucial to extract. Everything needs to go right, or we may miss out on the right opportunity to take our shot at the Elders. Doctor?" Bradford interrupted over the comms, trying to keep my outbursts in check. Though I certainly didn't appreciate being undermined by him, I listened, trying to remember that I was a little hurt at the moment and just needed to try and keep my cool a little more than I had already done.

"Yes, precisely, I wouldn't have reached out when I did otherwise. I'm what you may call a lead scientist for Advent, a lot of genetic research, particularly into the combination and manipulation of the introduction of human DNA to pre-determined alien genetic structures. We had been told it was to benefit the gene therapy centers. Which some of it probably did, granted. But I figured out that our research was going towards some other, much larger data set that was being compiled. I think I can shed some light on what it is they were attempting, and why time is of the essence," He started. He barely breathed in between his sentences, talking sharply and quickly, which did also make him fairly difficult to understand with his accent as well. He gesticulated wildly, as if he could move his arms in some sort of motion to help us understand what he was saying.

"Have you heard of the AVATAR project? Surely, by now you've heard something of it?" He questioned. "There's several high security clearance facilities all putting research towards this project, lead by none other than the Elders. They think human DNA will provide something…A cure, I believe. A cure to what though, I will never understand. Not with the limited data I had. But it's the only thing that makes sense. The mixing of genomes within Aliens and Humans allowed for us to identify problematic strains, and effectively cure particular diseases from each race. The AVATAR project is just an extension of this. I think the Elders are ill. I think they want a cure." He summarised, pausing for dramatic effect, his wide eyes staring at each of us in turn, as if trying to understand whether we understood ourselves that gravity of the issue he posed to us.

"So why are you coming to XCOM to tell us this?" I asked, interrupting the couple of whispers I could hear from some of the others.

"Oh…well, rather embarrassingly, I must admit to willful ignorance. I never once thought to question how we had access to so many different strands of pre-selected DNA." He admitted. "When you set off in search of answers, sometimes you get more answers than you wished for. I don't think I had an option in the end.."

"So that means we can win, right?" Twitch asked. "If the Elders are sick?"

"If they were sick and didn't have a cure they'd probably be dead already, right?" Brick shrugged. "Are you sure it isn't just them trying to upgrade themselves, the same as they try to do to everything?"

"Look, I have the data on me," The scientist waved an Advent tablet in his hand, pulled from the pocket of the coat he was wearing. "Don't worry, it's deactivated, they can't trace it. Though I'm sure your Commander would like to check that for himself once we're transported to your headquarters. Or sooner." He corrected himself, placing it on his lap and opening up some of the documents on it.

"How do we know you aren't chipped?" Mox asked, sitting opposite him, the scientist seemingly taken aback slightly by the slight natural distortion Mox had in his voice, in comparison to a human.

"You….you aren't human, are you? Are you another Alien?" He questioned, leaning forward in interest, avoiding the question. Mox put his hands to his helmet, removing it in front of the amused human to reveal his unique features. I could see the man's expression turn from one of intrigue to one of amazement as he stared at his counterpart.

"You're…You're one of them!" He said excitedly. "The Troopers! The Skirmishers!"

"I was a Captain, actually. A death squad Captain. But yes, I am one of them. You had an answer to give to my question?" Mox responded, monotonously, making sure not to get distracted. I must admit, the way the man dodged the question at first worried me, but he seemed comfortable enough to continue to answer it after. I put it down to the slight eccentricity I had seen in others similar to him. He simply turned his head, to reveal an ugly scar, like tree roots were growing underneath the skin, extending into 4 or five tendrils.

"I manually removed it. I don't mean to brag, but I gave Advent a real run for their credits," He started. I knew it was a human idiom, I was getting better at identifying them, though as to how literal he was being I couldn't tell. Did he mean to say he was literally just outrunning the Troopers? Because I found that somewhat unbelievable.

"I knew I had only a short amount of time from when I disconnected my chip to make an escape. Apart from booby-trapping my workplace to buy me some extra time, I used four of these babies to help me." He pointed to the datapad on his lap, before his fingers proceeded to shift through some of the data he had on screen. "Three of them were set up to use VPN to trick them as to where I was. I had to make it believable, once they would have caught on to what I was doing. I sent them on a goose chase around City A658, there were so many places I had thought to be good hiding places. I figured the sewers were probably one of the best. Of course, as soon as I sent the signal to you, it was only going to be a matter of time before they could find me. That's why I transmitted to the Skirmishers. They know their way around the Advent network pretty handily. It took a while to do it, but I managed to send out the coordinates to a breached network to give them the information. I suppose though the rest of the heroics are down to you guys."

"You don't really stop talking, do you?" I chastised, watching him sit back in his seat in resignation.

"Sorry, I guess I am getting carried away explaining my work to a bunch of soldiers. It's exciting to me, okay?" He apologized, managing to say something even more inflammatory in doing so.

"Hey, don't worry about her, it's fine, if what you are saying is true, you're a huge boon towards humanity's survival. Fingers crossed," Brick winked at him, acting back as her regular upbeat self. "Just go easy on us, there's plenty reason around for us to be upset." She motioned her head briefly to Vandal's body, as the scientist shook his head in realization, furthering his apology to me. I kind of just tuned him out, laying my head back against the seat, choosing to ignore the annoying human. I wanted nothing more than to just get back onto the Avenger and just forget about it. As hard as that was to do at this point in time.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay," Brick's voice lured me from the recess of my thoughts, forcing me to open my eyes to her uncharacteristically soft voice. She was leaning onto her knees with her elbows, her hands holding her head up. "Don't hurt yourself, it's not what he would have wanted, is it?"

She was right. Vandal was never one to let anything bother himself. Did it matter what he wanted though? He was gone. That was the fact that mattered. Despite the logic arguing against the possibility, her words helped soothe me, even if only slightly.

"Hey…Would you like to get a drink, after we've got back?" I asked, partially directed at Brick, but also an open question to everyone else on board.

"Yeah, I could do with one or two." Brick nodded, accepting the proposition. "Something to dull the pain with, huh?"

"Yes. I just don't want to think about it right now." I agreed, trying to force my peripherals to avoid looking down at him. The more you tried to not pay attention to something, the more your mind forced you to pay attention to the object in question. Ironic.

"I'll join," Twitch interjected. "Just for an hour or so, anyway"

"Yeah, I think the Liberated have restocked the bar for us. The new drinks needed to be tested at some point, right?" Zero added on, having been silent so far since coming onto the Skyranger.

"Are you gonna join us, Mox?" Twitch asked, holding his gun in his lap, his thumb tapping rhythmically on the side of the barrel.

"I do not have any other arrangements for this evening, I do not see an issue with the request." He started. "I shall join you for a drink, yes."

"I'll see if anyone else wants to come for a drink with us. It wouldn't hurt to have a few more of us there, and people will be a bit rocked by Vandal's death." Brick added. With the end of that conversation, Firebrand quickly told us that we were just landing back on board the Avenger, so we all got ready to head off. Brick stood up as soon as the ship stopped moving, the shuddering jolt signifying our arrival. She slung her gun to her side, kneeling to pick up Vandal, delicately picking up his torso and placing him over her shoulder. I moved my tail to allow her to get off first, as the ramp descended. There was already a bed from the infirmary for him, his final resting place, for now. Brick headed the procession from the ship, laying out our one casualty, placing a hand on his unbreathing chest. I could see her muttering something under her breath, only seeing her lips move, before she turned away, walking straight past Bradford, who stood still waiting for us to all leave.

"Aren't you going to stop her?" The scientist plucked up from behind us, a curt shake of the head enough of a response to the question.

"I won't keep any of you here for long. You all did fantastically, it was a difficult mission and we got unlucky. Very unlucky." He glanced to his left, his eyes falling over the body. "Marquois, I have a team of scientists who will get you filled in on how everything works here, but I must thank you for your diligence to humankind and alienkind alike. What you have told us may be enough for us to strike back at the Elders, and hard." He started, the doctor nodding and joining the other white-coated humans standing far away enough from the rest of us that I hadn't bothered acknowledging they were there before they became of importance to the situation.

"As for the rest of you, except Kassara, dismissed. Get yourselves some rest, you all need to take a little time to just settle down and control emotions. It was hectic out there, it was terrifying, but you all pulled through." His steely eyes not once looking away from mine.

I groaned disdainfully, expecting him to lambast me for ignoring orders again, as he stepped closer.

"The Commander wants to remind you to listen to orders. You were told to back off with Vandal, and you did the complete opposite, what's more, you put yourself in a potential position where you could have been killed, as well." He spoke, his voice low as he leaned in towards his face, the lower grumbles in his voice vibrating through my jaw. I could taste his displeasure.

"You may have saved Zero, it may have worked, but you endanger the entire team doing so. Listen. To. Orders. I don't want you to have the deaths of other soldiers on your shoulder. Trust me, it will hurt forever." He warned, doing a 180 and striding out of the room. "Last warning, Viper." He called back, leaving me stood shivering at the iciness of his words. I knew he didn't like me, but this was a step too far. I should probably avoid him in the future. But he was right with the other things. I felt exhausted, weary, and beaten. But most of all, it was the weight of Vandal's death that slowed my thoughts, that dragged my tail. I needed some sleep.

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 18:44 EST, 06/10/2035, Location: Unknown)

I have had a lot on my mind since returning back from the mission we had just a few days back. I say a lot of things; I don't mean a large number of different issues my brain decided to mull over, but rather just the excruciating detail that my thoughts decided to go into whenever I did try and think about a couple of things that plagued my mind. The first being Vandal. I missed him, dearly. I didn't know whether it was the fact he was dead, or the unluckiness that caused his death to be the reason I was so upset, but it had affected me more than I cared to admit. The day after we returned we gathered for a short eulogy from Bradford, but it was not really anything that eased my fettered thoughts, perpetually locked in remembrance of Vandal. Now his picture joined a couple of others on our wall of collections, alongside the names of the two Liberated Vipers who died for us; Astrith, and Hettie.

Our little get together at the bar on the day of his passing was mostly every member that joined us recounting our best moments with him, both off and on the field. It was very humbling and pretty somber, nobody really drinking too much. Although, I can definitely confirm that the new rations given to us by the Liberated have paid off on the improved beer certainly. But it wasn't just Vandal that occupied my mind the entire evening, and until I closed my eyes to sleep and even past this and into my dreams. No, it was Kassara. There was something…I couldn't put my hand exactly on it, but something had changed. I thought at first it was just my brain being a bit pathetic, a bit stereotypical, the whole fall for your savior nonsense. But no, it all clicked into place soon enough, but her resuscitating me from the grasp of the Chosen only woke me up to the fact that there was 'that something more' that I had buried underneath. It was the feeling of safety I felt when she brought me back, the way I could relax myself with her, I trusted her with my life. And I don't know why it never clicked before, it had never been the same, not when she rescued me previously, not when we got drunk. It was never there then, not for an alien, not for her. It seems so painfully obvious now, but it was hard to come to terms with; I think I was falling for her. For an alien. That damn snake was responsible for the last couple of nights awake just spent imagining, the mornings I woke up in a sweat, the daydreams I would have at meals. It just wasn't something I could hide from myself any longer. But hiding it from her? From everyone else? I don't know. I don't want to hurt her.

I just sat on my bed, lightly humming a tune out loud, the empty room my audience. I didn't have anything planned out today, other than food of course, but I had already had my dinner. What I wanted to do was go up and see the Matriarch. How satisfying it was to watch her behind bars. I felt a shudder shoot through my leg as I considered her reaction to being put under the same treatment as I had. Physically and mentally assaulted, and forgotten in a freezing cold cell. No, in comparison, she had it pretty cozy here. I had heard from Bradford that she had indeed given us some information, maybe because she believed now, correctly, that Advent was out for her as well, that she no longer owed any allegiance to them, maybe not. But she certainly wasn't on our side. Maybe she wished to just stay as a captive on board the Avenger forever, at least that's what it seems to be what she's happy doing.

A knock at my door brought my humming to a stop. With a silent harrumph, I jumped out of my bed, leaving the game of solitaire that had already been long since abandoned, to answer the door. As I swung it open, I became very suddenly acutely aware of how dry my throat was, for no reason other than Kassara standing at the door, in her dazzling armor, sans hood, gauntlets, and shoulder greaves.

"Hey, Zero," She greeted, giving a warm serpentine smile as she did so, slithering past me into the room.

"Hey. I don't think you're supposed to … ah, whatever." I began to try and stop her moving into the room feebly, giving up on enforcing any sort of rule, no matter how lenient it actually was. "What did you need?"

"Hmm…nothing, I suppose, is the best way to put it," She mused, turning back around to face me in one fluid motion. "I was just concerned about you, I guess. You've been a little distant for the past few days, I am just assuming it's about Vandal, everyone's been a little down, but you haven't really come with us for anything." She explained, placing a hand lightly on the side of my arm as she moved closer.

"Huh? I mean, yeah, that's probably it. I'm just not really feeling up to anything I guess." I sighed, shrugging it off and closing the door and heading back to my bed, gathering up the cards that lay on the mattress, the nice orderly piles I had tried to make ruined by slipping into the various indentations and depressions I made myself.

"I sort of just came by to make sure you're doing alright. You haven't joined us for food since we came back from the mission, Brick and I were just concerned for you, is all. Do you want to come down with us tonight for dinner?" She explained, watching me walk around my room.

"Nah, I've already eaten," I declined. "I'm alright. Think I'll just head to bed soon, probably." I placed the cards back on the table in the center of the room, where we all played poker. There were four chairs still around it, the poker chips unmoved from the four piles they were in.

"Zero, you should do something, have you been in your room for the past 3 days or something and only leaving to get food?"

"No!" I vehemently denied, grinning at her as I did so. She was giving me a very doubtful look as she crossed her arms, her red eyes analyzing me. "I've been to the gym twice. Gimme a break."

"How about we do something. Cards?" She suggested, moving over to the table, and plucking the deck from the center, then leaning in to start moving the chips.

"No! Don't!" I called out, my alarm stopping her as she glanced over the table below her, realization on her face as she put the cards back down. "I don't feel like playing cards anyway, I've been playing solitaire all day."

"Sorry, Zero. Look, being in here isn't going to help. If you want to talk about it, I'll be here for you, you know." She urged, her hunter's eyes watching me for my response. With none in sight, she returned to thinking. "Let's go up to the rec room. We can play pool, you can teach me!" She offered, genuine excitement on her face.

"Didn't you say you needed to eat?"

"Yes, but I can do that later, I'm not too bothered. It would be nice to spend some time with you." She wasn't going to let me reject every offer she made, so I accepted and we made our way up to the room, Kassara filling me in on Drama going on between Firehawk and Ruby, how they'd had a small falling out for some reason.

We reached a room with a couple of people dotted at the tables. I got a small wave from Twitch as we passed him, which I returned half-mindedly. Kassara went over to the bar, letting me chose one of the tables, the felt no longer in such a state of disrepair. When had we found the time to renovate the tables? I brought the pool balls out, slotting them in the correct places in the triangle. I always remembered it by placing 3 rows of 1 solid, 2 stripes, and 3 solids respectively from the bottom left, then encircling a solid with stripes on the bottom right side, leaving just 2 solids and 1 stripe, which were arranged at the top, the black 8-ball slotting comfortably into the middle. I slid the triangle up to the correct spot, lowering my face to the table to accurately line up the angle. Kassara returned to the table as soon as I lifted the triangle from the table. She had brought one of the new ciders back for me.

"Thought you would remember I liked that one." I smirked, taking the cup from her, replacing her free hand with a pool cue. I took a sip of the sweet beverage, waiting for the cool burn of the alcohol at the back of my throat, tickling slightly as it went down.

"Yeah, you mentioned a couple of time a few nights back, just made a small note of it is all," She beamed. "By the way, any tips you can give are more than welcome."

"Have you at least played before?" I asked, putting down my drink and picking up my cue, walking around the table to the front, placing the white cue ball behind the black line.

"Well, no, but I've watched it a few times before; I know the rules, at the very least." She assured.

I broke off, shifting the cue ball slightly to me right, before striking it at the front ball. The neatly arranged triangle of balls split, ricocheting against the cushions. In amidst the chaos, one ball was pocketed, a stripe.

"Ha, lucky break." She commented, waiting for me to line up my next shot, though missing the target on my next shot.

"Who did the tables up?" I asked, letting her take her shot, her serpentine form slithered around the table as she analyzed possible shot to make, in quite a graceful, flowing, elegant motion.

"The Liberated. New television as well." She responded, her eyes not moving from the table. I glanced behind me, to the back of the room, the old, smaller model we used now replaced by a much, much larger, much more sleek screen. It was almost three times the size of the previous one, hang down from the ceiling with a large arm, the beanbag and chair corner looked way too close to it now due to its larger size. I really didn't know how I missed that walking it.

"They've renovated the whole place, have they?" I joked, watching her form curve over the table, the pool cue just under her armor as she lined up her shot. I could see how steady she looked, it almost looked professional, bar the huge suit of armor she wore. But she took the shot, hitting the ball at least 5 times as hard as it needed to. The cue ball jumped after striking its target, almost bouncing off of the table, the number 2 ball pinging off every available surface, though strangely nothing entered the pockets, not any of the few balls still moving around the table.

"Uh...nice shot, I guess..."I distractedly muttered, watching her study the table in front of her with mild embarrassment.

"Don't say anything." She eventually murmured, shooting me a slight smile, moving out of the way so I could take my turn.

"Say, in that fight, with the Warlock, and thank you for this by the way, but how did you know that doing that would break his control over me?" I asked, measuring up my shot.

"At the time? I don't know. I just did it, I guess, I couldn't really hear anything, I just kind of...you know...went for you. I didn't want anything to happen to you." She explained, her face turned to the side to avoid looking at me as I listened to her explain. "But at the same time, there was probably something subconscious about it. I remember one occasion when I was a Peacemaker, that I saw something similar happen. Maybe I guess just deep inside I realized what I had seen and knew it would work." She stumbled over her words slightly. I sank another ball, taking a small sip of cider before I moved onto my next shot, lining up a tight-angled shot into the side pocket.

"So what did you see? When you were a Peacekeeper?" I asked, pressing her forward for the story.

"I...About...hmm, like 15 years ago? Longer? Civilians were a lot more unruly. They didn't usually have weapons, so usually violence was just using fists and such. That's why we have Stun Lancers, they came about because of the need to calm the unrest by stunning people." I took my shot, the crack of the balls hitting each other punctuating the start of her story. "They used priests to easily capture unruly targets, or to gain information. They would simply envelop them in a purple light. The target's eyes became blank slate, completely subdued by their captor, of both the mind and the body. There was one occasion, a girl grabbed the guy as he was put under. He managed to free himself from the mind control and try to make a break for it, grabbing the weapon of the Trooper nearest to him. I just assumed the priest was bad, didn't fully control him or something. But, maybe it just made sense for that brief moment, and I knew I could save you..." She lamented, though her words warmed towards the end of her story. She looked up at me, glistening crimson eyes staring at me. "I believed I could. And I'm thankful it did."

"It's your shot." I muttered, giving a few seconds to fully appreciate her story, as she sat in silence for a small bit, her eyes closed with somewhat of a smile on her face. She perked up immediately, her hood shaking a little as she drew her attention back to the game we were playing.

"So, you saw all this and thought you were the good guys?"

"Yes." She said apathetically, sighing afterward, before leaning in for her shot. "It's not as easy as it just being black and white, Zero. I thought I was helping them. It was for their own good. Control a few to save them all. And, in some ways, it does...but it's not right. Not when you finally realize what's going on. There must be bad things you've done in the past that you thought at the time was correct?" She responded, not defending herself at all, but turning the question on me. "Like, specifically here?"

"Well, I guess if you talk about Raina, then yes, definitely." I responded back immediately.

"Raina?" She asked, hesitating herself as she tried to remember the name. A small pause followed her sentence as I took a breath to help myself more than anything else.

"The Viper, at the compound." I responded, avoiding her gaze. I felt all the emptiness, all of the regret welling up inside of me again, the thought of being responsible for her death gutted me every time I thought of it. I know I brought it up myself, but it was too easy to remember that situation to not remember it. It did fit the criteria after all. It just made me feel like someone was twisting my insides on purpose.

"You...you remember..." She sighed, her words softening as she put the cue to one side, one hand over the side of her chest, over her heart. "You remembered her name..." She moved around the table, outstretching her hands to pull my arms apart from where they were crossed in front of me. She wrapped her hands around my back, beginning to pull me in for a hug, with my head resting against her metal armor. It wasn't comfortable, and that's being nice about it.

"Oh for...fuck, whatever." She complained, drawing back, her hands flying to the six clamps, pulling each one off rapidly, and discarding the armor to her side, clattering on the floor, before pulling me into a hug. I could feel her warmth all around me as I pressed back into her, my arms falling around the small of her back, resting above her hips, with my head buried into her collar.

"Zero, I'm sorry. I was just trying to make a point. I didn't think."

"It's okay." I reassured, mumbling into the black, thin garment she wore.

"I have so much respect for you, being able to remember her." She said in almost a whisper, her mouth not far away from my ear as she cradled the back of my head. "I wish I could say the same for the first time I killed a human. I could never remember."

"That was the day before you met me." I reminded her.

"Yes...it was..." She reminisced, though not in a pleasant way. We were just two individuals remembering the worst parts of who we were, bracing each other through them. "And I killed one of yours."

"Do you remember her name?" I asked, peering up at her face. She refused to meet my gaze

"No." She answered apologetically, remorse clear in her voice. "I never concerned myself with it. As I said, at the time...well, I wasn't who I am now. And who I am now is mostly because of you." She gave a soft smile, ever so slight but noticeable at the same time. "You, Brick, Vandal, everyone. Alright, maybe not Goblin, but everyone else."

I could feel her chest move with the small chuckles that escaped her; more like hisses than a human laugh, but it was easy to tell. The little way the tip of her tail twitched, the warmth of her embrace as we stood there consoling one another, just existing for another moment, together. I quietly remembered back to the time such contact with a Viper would have elicited such fear in return from me, but now, I felt not only comfortable, but I enjoyed it. The touch of a Viper. Again the question I'd asked myself so many times over the past few days came up. 'How do you really feel about her?'

She came to get me from my room, to try and cheer me up, thinking it was all about Vandal, when truly, I think it was mostly because of her. I am such a wreck, who avoids their friend like that? The more I thought, the more it felt like keeping the secret was a crime, being dishonest to not only her but myself as well. It made my ribcage feel like it was electrified, but my brain was certain in its synopsis.

Her hand stopped ruffling through my hair, as she moved out of the hug, leaving her hands resting on the back of my neck. Those crimson eyes, I just couldn't resist. Like 2 jewels sparkling, distracting the onlooker by their prettiness, distracting me enough, that I could muster the courage to begin to say what I probably should have said weeks ago.

"Hey...I need to be honest with you." I started, my voice quivering slightly at my first words, but I swallowed the lump in my throat as I watched her study me, her face now one of confusion.

"I haven't been hiding in my room really because of Vandal. At least, it's not the main reason..." I sighed. I could feel her hold on me loosening, her hand slipping from my neck, concern flitting across her face. "Do you remember what Ash said? When she explained what dating was?" I watched her face fly through more than a few emotions at once, but I steeled myself, not letting myself react. I needed to tell her, it was only fair. "Well...how would you feel if we dated?"

"What are you saying, exactly?" She puzzled. I couldn't help but notice the smile sneaking onto her features. It was enough to spur me on, it made me believe that this may be the right decision.

"I think I like you. Like a lot. In that way, despite what I may have said before, about not ever being more than friends. I was wrong, I was scared and didn't understand. But I realize now that it is how I truly feel, that despite the fact you're an alien, I want to be something more than just friends." I spilled, words falling out of my mouth before I could properly think of what I was even saying, stumbling and stuttering as they poured out, speaking too fast for my tongue to keep up. They were words from the heart, not from the brain, and I think that that was a good thing. I forced myself to look into her eyes, trying desperately to find an answer in her golden features, a sign she felt the same way. The open mouth and vacant stare indicated very little, either way. "You mean a lot to me, something that the word 'friend' wouldn't begin to describe. I want to make that jump. And I want you to take my hand and make that jump with me."

I didn't get a response from her, not any 'I feel the same way' or the rejection of my spilled feelings. No, she engulfed me, hands wrapping around my body, my arms squished to my sides in her embrace, almost knocked over backward by the force she grabbed with, squeezing as her nose buried into my neck.

"Zero, I..." She breathed into my neck, the warmth almost making a shiver shoot down my spine. "I don't know what to say." She continued, I could hear the light, dizzy laughter slipping into her voice. "I feel exactly the same. I would have never known how to bring it up...especially because of what's happened in the past." She pulled her face from my neck briefly, her face inches from mine. I could see the pure, serpentine joy on her face, her eyes glistening as if tears were an inevitability. "I want you, Zero. I can't describe how happy you've just made me." She let out a final contented hiss, letting me move my arms to hug her back this time, her form pressing into mine and her tail coiling briefly around the bottom of my legs. I could feel her heart beating heavily against my shoulder, both of us sharing no words, but happily in each other's embrace sharing our warmth instead.

"So, shall we finish our game of pool?" She eventually asked, after a minute of our hug, bringing me back from the daydream I was having, feeling like I had awoken from a long, deep sleep. She pulled herself from me, resting her forehead against mine briefly, her tongue flicking out to glance my nose.

"Yeah...uh...who's go was it again?" I asked, unable to wipe the smile from my face. I felt like a weight had been lifted, telling her everything, and Kassara accepting it and reciprocating it. I know I'd have to face what my squadmates would have to say about it, I'm sure I'd have to put up with a couple of nasty comments, but I didn't care; I had her.

"You know, I can't remember. Should we just start again?"


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

(Captain 'Kassara', 13:21 06/11/2035, Location: Unknown)

I nodded to Samurai, moving myself to the side of the corridor to let him past, out of the Matriarch's holding cell, him and one of the other rookies. We picked up a few this morning, more troops to join us for the battle for freedom, though there are rumors around that the Commander has picked them up to send on missions with the other factions, other covert actions that can be taken to improve our standing against Advent. While I did not put much faith in a rumor, from a strategical standpoint it was a decent move in that it allowed for all of the higher-ranking, more skilled soldiers to remain available for combat should he require us.

"Thank you, darling." Ruby said as she placed a delicate hand on my shoulder as she moved past, a sly grin on the side of her face as she passed me, entering into the room ahead of me. I know I would usually find such a comment, paired with the action, condescending, but Ruby always managed it in a way that bordered more on the more suggestive side than being condescending to its target. I had got used to a lot of her off-hand flirtations, as flustering as some of them were, it was always better, in my opinion, to mostly ignore that she had said it in such a way. But I saw how much fun she derived from the reactions of others on board. At least I now had even less reason to react to her. The feeling of thinking of Zero brought a slight warmth, if nothing else. It sounded almost unreal this morning when I could say to myself I was now dating a human, that I was now dating Zero.

Ruby typically followed Deadbolt's method of guarding; turn on the TV and ignore the prisoner. It was just another job, after all, and one that was boring, repetitive, and generally soul-draining should you let it be. As I slithered into the room, I saw the Matriarch's face pop up, her eyes fixating on me, following me as I waited near the chess set for Ruby to finish finding the channel she wanted out of the few available broadcasts we could find.

"Say, what was your favorite channel to watch back up in your cushy office, Viper?" Ruby distractedly asked, peering up over her shoulder at the Matriarch.

"Speak again?" The Matriarch answered, her eyes finally diverging from me to glance at the brown-haired woman. Her hair had started to grow out slightly longer, though it still had slight curls at the end, falling just at her shoulders.

"Do you care to recommend your favorite channel, assuming you ever watched any of the numerous Advent news networks."

"The official Advent broadcast station is the most reliable, the other stations often use preliminary reports to publish their data." She stated, matter-of-factly, uncoiling slightly, pushing herself off of her own tail with her hands. I was glad to see the t-shirts they gave me looked just as ridiculous on her, at least; the light blue shirt's sleeves did not cover our thinner, sleeker arms as well as humans, but instead remained quite baggy over her limbs.

"I'm fairly unsurprised, I guess." Ruby simply replied, turning on the red-themed news station, a woman in a tight-fitting black and red dress standing to the side of images of Advent Vipers, more news about the opening the new Viper-Human Embassy following the infiltration into the Matriarch's building.

"Disgusting, I was really hoping that wouldn't come to fruition." She snarled in her cage, backing off.

"Viper-Human embassy? Why? Won't it promote better relations between Humans and Vipers?" Ruby asked, standing back from the screen, her pistol held loosely in her hand to her side.

"If that's one of their objectives, then maybe, I don't know. But Vipers need their own Embassy. They don't deserve to be on the same standing as humans, after I spent my years as their Matriarch proving that our species didn't deserve the disdain they got from the other species. Pushing for better ranks in Advent, more civilian positions, better programs. Their issues will get lost in the arguably more pressing issues that face the human race, and therefore will get buried." She complained, huffing as she crossed her arms.

"Hey, humans aren't 'lower' than other aliens, what do you mean don't deserve to be on the 'same standing'?" Ruby complained, taking umbrage at the Matriarch's choice of language to describe the problems she foresaw.

"I'm being overly concise, sure, but that's how things are. Humans are the newer race, they have the most issues and require the greatest assimilation into Advent rule. Sectoids and Archons are typically much higher ranked, more respected in society, because they are fully assimilated, and part of the inner base of Advent." She began to explain, using her hands to try and graphically demonstrate what she was talking about. She spoke with certainty and clarity, it was clearly an issue she had been tackling whilst she had her title quite often. "Humans are the least assimilated, and so more work needs to be done to mold their race into the slot that will fit them into Advent the best. They are fledglings, to put it flatteringly. However, other races will typically look down on those least assimilated. Grouping Vipers with Humans will slow down this assimilation process for Vipers over time. Eventually, Humans and Vipers will equal, both standing on the lowest rung of the Advent ladder."

"I actually worry how Vipers will fare without you there to lead them..." I muttered in response, speaking my thoughts aloud.

"It's your fault, whatever happens. This is because you decided to take me out of office." She snapped back.

"Well, yes. But you set it up so that Vipers would be hopeless without you. I wouldn't be surprised if Advent is looking to remove Vipers as a natural race and just turn them into clones. It's easier, is it not? They do that with the Troopers and Captains." I stated, watching Ruby raise an eyebrow at me, for involving myself with the Matriarch despite me telling everyone previously I didn't care to communicate with her in the cell.

"It's more costly. It's easier for them to just remove me as a leader, get rid of the 'excessive' funding I was demanding from my projects, as some would put it, as some would put it, and just manage them alongside humans. Less effort, less money, same results." She shrugged.

"I see what you mean," Ruby commented, yawning afterward. "That's pretty rough."

The Matriarch seemed to grumble to herself, not audible to either of us. We returned to keeping our silence, Ruby entranced by the television, and the Matriarch still staring at me intently.

"Why are you looking at me?" I questioned, still holding my rifle across my body.

"Trying to figure you out." She bluntly responded. "Are you going to tell me I can't look at you or something?" She carried on, trying to egg out an aggressive reaction from me.

"Do whatever you want in there, I'm not stopping you." I hissed, earning a small smirk from her as she approached her bars.

"Something has happened, hasn't it?" She eagerly pressed. "Come, daughter, you don't care to share any secrets with me?"

"No, not particularly." I dismissed. She always made mention of me as her daughter or her as my mother, an action that I now attributed more to being in Advent, and now more disturbed me than anything else, especially coming from her.

"Please, you do not wear a mask as well as you think." She started. "So, what is it? Upset your comrade died? Pleased about something X-Com has discovered? Annoyed by something, someone?"

"I'm annoyed by you, if that helps." I emphasized my frustration.

"Oh yeah, that reminded me, you're going out with Zero now, aren't you?" Ruby interjected, her face lighting up as she turned away from the television which had previously captured her interest. I tried to wipe the shock off of my face, giving her a stern stare, as my Matriarch burst out laughing, snake-like hisses escaping as she tried to contain it more. I rushed through a few emotions in a short space of time, embarrassment coursing through me at the same time as being upset at Ruby for giving up that secret, and also confused about how she knew. Of course, she probably knew because Zero had told her, at some point. At least that answered the question I never asked him of whether he wanted it to be public or a guarded secret. On one hand, I'm glad he doesn't seem to be embarrassed about us dating, which I must admit, I thought was going to be the case. It wasn't something I would exactly have readily been telling everyone aboard the Avenger.

"Oh, that's fantastic! I told you, did I not? I told you he liked you. Elders, tell me I was an influence, that will give some joy to such a drab life." The Matriarch exclaimed, clasping her hands together in her pride.

"Look, maybe, I don't know. But yes, we're dating." I admitted, appeasing her, as she seemed to revel in knowing about what I was doing.

"Oh, I remember how flustered he looked talking to you. At least now you can't deny that it's because of him that you joined up with a terrorist band. Ah, what power love commands." She teased.

"Shut up, that's hardly the reason I joined, and that's wholly inappropriate." I snapped, watching Ruby try to apologize, drowned out by the laughter of my Matriarch.

"It's somewhat cute, really. You'd never catch a Viper lowering herself to a human in Advent. Well, maybe with the new combination of the Viper and Human embassies, you two should be the couple heading it!" She continued to mock me. I could feel my anger boiling up inside me, as I tried to tune her out, turning my back to her.

"Oh, no, wait, I'm sorry," She backtracked, "Sorry, I'm not being very fair, I'm just teasing because it's an odd occurrence to happen. Aliens and Humans simply just never get along well enough to consider dating. I wonder, does he find Vipers attractive?" She kept talking, ignoring Ruby's instructions to be quiet and leave me alone. I thought back to my captivity, thinking about what Zero would typically do if I had been this unruly, but I was fairly well behaved…well, bar the obvious exception.

"Seriously though, Kassara, do you find him attractive? I mean this in the nicest way, but someone can be as nice as possible, but your relationship will never work if neither of you finds the other appealing. Humans, particularly, are more physical creatures."

"Could you please leave me alone about it? I don't care to be telling you details of my personal life. Yes, he's attractive to me. Drop it." I hissed, watching her recoil slightly.

"Of course. Sorry, Daughter," She apologized, heading back away from the bars, slinking back towards the bed provided for her. For a moment, I felt guilt at hearing her upset tone, but I steeled myself again. It was the way she manipulated people, playing with their emotions. I needed to just go back to ignoring her, talking to her never did anything but upset me.

"Hey, ignore her, she's just bored, I would be too stuck in there. I'm sure you know how it is. You get all pent up, frustrated, you take it out on whoever will give you release," Ruby comforted, coming over to talk with me quiet enough that the Matriarch couldn't overhear. "Sorry I brought it up, it's my fault. I wasn't really paying attention."

"Did Zero tell you? When?" I questioned, watching her sit down at the chess table, motioning her head to the other chair. I reluctantly slid my coils down to sit on the chair.

"I wouldn't take it out on him. I can be…rather persuasive when I need to be. I have ways of making him speak." She smiled coyly with one eyebrow raised. I knew better than to make the assumption that she was attempting to insinuate. "He gave it up to me after I questioned him about you over lunch earlier. I think you guys would have made - well, do make - a good couple. Should have seen how surprised I was when he actually told me the news though."

I shook my head, partially at Zero and partially at myself for softening at Ruby's kind words. She seemed pretty onboard with it at least. "So has Zero just gone and told everyone?"

"No, no. At least, I don't think so. He asked me to keep it on the down-low anyway." Ruby responded; both of her hands put up in a small surrender gesture.

"Down-low?"

"You know, hush-hush," Ruby pressed her finger to her lips. "Seriously, I grilled him, go easy on him if you're gonna tell him off. Poor guy sounded so excited about it, I think he wanted it off his chest."

"Ah, alright…" I conceded, admitting to myself that I too felt rather inwardly proud that we were dating. I felt like I really achieved something, that I really made a jump and got myself the prize I wanted. I can only imagine Zero might feel the same if not more so. Besides, I couldn't really be upset about him not keeping a secret with my history, especially since our new relationship wasn't something we talked about being a secret. The risk is that if everybody on the Avenger finds out, it's just due to become a falling out. Elena, Goblin, Samurai, my two roommates; Flicker and Saline, Deadbolt, and Elders know who else would undoubtedly despise us being together, and a few of them would probably let us know directly.

"Well…" She began, the comical, secret-devouring grin returned to her face. "Since I grilled him, I did let him off the hook about one thing…Have you guys done the sideways salsa yet?"

I watched her wiggle her shoulders at me, whilst simultaneously having zero ideas of what she was on about. Wasn't Salsa a sauce?

"You know…bumpin' uglies?" She tried again. I was getting an idea of what she was on about, but I'm sure I still wore the confused face as I had tried to figure it out quicker.

"For Elder's sake, having sex!" She started, I'm sure her loudness attracting the Matriarch behind me. "Have you guys got it on yet? You know…given what's happened in the past?" She grinned excitedly, practically twitching in her seat.

"What?! No!" I vehemently denied. "Ruby, seriously, that's, firstly, way too personal, and secondly we've only just agreed to date, why would we be screwing each other already?"

"Oh, so you know that one but not the others…" She redirected, drawing my attention onto the wrong part of our conversation, though only for a second.

"Ruby,"

"Alright, alright, sorry. I like listening to these sorts of things, alright. It's cute. You guys are cute. Also, I need to know so I can hear about what it's like with a Viper, unless you want to give me a personal lesson." She finished, winking at me while she did so. I found myself pushing my head back, eyes closed as I tried to comprehend her joking request, she switched the topic onto it so quickly, that I couldn't catch myself at reacting to her flirty comment.

"Ahaha, got ya, finally. And when you were so hard to crack earlier." She grinned, leaping up from the seat she was sat on. "But also, seriously, he's a guy. At least, a human guy. Trust me, if he's dating you, 'he think you sexy'. You know, in the 'She turns me on' kind of way. Just warning you."

"Thanks, I guess." I murmured, looking over to my Matriarch, playing as if she hadn't been paying attention, but the fact she had come off of her bed betrayed that this wasn't the case. "Just…please don't tell anyone else. I mean, we'll end up doing it ourselves anyway, but I want us to do it, together. And not let it be some other rumor flying around the ship, like the last times."

"Of course, honey," She smiled innocently. I don't think I believed her just because of her smile, I was more inclined to believe her if she had done literally anything else. "But on a more serious note, as much as I may be teasing about it, I'm always here should you need someone to talk to about Zero, or anything else for that matter. I promise, my mouth is as tight as you want it to be, lips sealed, nothing comes out." She smiled, more sincerely this time, reaching her hand up to my shoulder. It was a weird human gesture used to relate to someone more closely, or assure them of something, but it felt really out of place as often they would have to raise their hand above their shoulder to get to my shoulder. I was still, however, coiled on the chess chair, so it worked in this situation.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, but I appreciate the offer, Ruby." I returned the smile, looking back to her, away from the Matriarch. "I'll keep it in mind."

* * *

(Lieutenant 'Zero', 19:03 EST 06/11/20135, Location: Unknown)

 _Knock Knock Knock_

"Who is it?" I shouted out at the rapping on my door from my bed, propping myself up onto my elbows to look at the intruder.

"Kassara," She called back. I put the book I had in my hand face down on my bunk, making a note of the page number I was on, 56, just in case it closed regardless. I jumped down from the bed, and made my way to the door, butterflies in my stomach at the prospect of seeing her again. Then I remembered my little leak to Ruby, and the nervousness of seeing her again was replaced by a less pure nervousness. I watched the door slide open to her form, the armor-clad serpent beaming at me as she saw me.

"Is anyone else in?" She asked quietly, her voice a rasping hiss in her whisper, obviously unaccustomed to have to make such noises.

"No," I could barely finish my response before she pulled me into her armor, crushing the side of my face around the relatively warm metal, her arms around my back.

"Armor," I reminded her, feeling my face released from being pressed into her. She mouthed a sorry in response, though her smile hadn't left her face. "Come in, come in," I quickly motioned, standing to the side to let her in.

"Thanks. How's your day been so far, Zero?" She began, moving towards my bunk, her back turned to me as she started taking off the armor, undoing each clasp on the main portion of her armor one by one. I hesitated, distracted at her motions, before trying to answer her question.

"Uh, yeah, it's been pretty boring...I...Uh, what are you doing?" I broke my answer off to make sure I hadn't been reading the situation wrong, the weird sense of deja vu building up once more as she undressed.

"What, you think I'm not going to go without giving you a proper hug?" She turned her head around towards me, her crimson eyes staring at me intently. A familiar warmth flowed back into me, reassured of her intentions. "Or, you know, cuddle, if you wanted. You are really nice to cuddle." She continued. I made the quick debate in my mind on whether I should accept the hug, which at first I thought was more reasonable, more acceptable. But, in all honesty, a cuddle right now sounded fantastic, especially as I could see her waiting in front of my bed waiting for my answer, the black cloth hugging her figure tightly. She had offered it, so there was no reason not to, right?

"A cuddle sounds nice." I agreed, after letting the question linger a little longer than perhaps would have not shown my tentativeness.

"Deadbolt and Samurai aren't gonna be coming back anytime soon, right?" She asked me as I moved towards her, her tail restless as I came closer. It was nice to know her tells of being slightly flustered were still there. Though, that probably went the same for me as well. I wouldn't be surprised if I looked pretty red; the concept of dating her was still exciting.

"No," I reassured, moving the book down from my bed and sliding it underneath the bunk. I climbed up onto my bed, feeling her eyes watch me as I settled down. She moved up the ladder after me as I lay on my back, waiting for her to join me. She slowly moved up my body, her chest hovering above my legs, then my stomach, then matching my chest. She loomed over me, her tongue flicking down, her arms stopping her from collapsing on top of me, as she simply gazed at me, studying me, measuring me. I stared back up at the reptilian face above me, taking in the tessellated scales on her face, the red of her eyes in contrast to the warm amber around them. It felt intense, in more ways than I could describe, the anticipation coursing through me, waiting on the Viper on top of me to make her move. I felt part of her tail start to coil onto my leg, as she slowly lowered herself down onto me, her chest pressing just below mine, her hood and head resting on my left arm and shoulder, one of her hands forcing its way under my back, the other draped across my chest and onto my other shoulder. I could feel her grip on my legs get tighter as she adjusted, before she began to un-tense, seeming to sink further into me, weighing me down.

The first thing I could notice is how warm she was. Her body heat was seeping into me as she made small adjustments to make her comfortable, her eyelids completely closed as her breathing slowed, grasping onto me still. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in tighter. It felt weird, it was not at all like a normal cuddle. I would argue it was possibly better. The feeling of being so close to her, to a being that arguably cared about me more than she cared about herself, it made the experience so much more special than I had remembered back in South Africa, though how much of that I could put down to the light in which I saw her now I wouldn't know.

"You still haven't answered my question properly." She started again, her voice soft in my ear.

"Which one?"

"What have you done today?"

"Oh that. As I said, it's been pretty boring. I went to lunch with a couple of people, otherwise just played some pool with Mox. He's useless at it, by the way." I made sure to add on the quip at the end. It was not an exaggeration, the poor guy must have pocketed the white ball more than the ones he was supposed to pot. "Anyway, how has yours been?"

"Pretty boring as well. Though, I did go on a shift watching of the Matriarch for a bit," She shifted slightly again, burying the top of her head into my neck. "I dislike her so much, she chooses to irritate me so much whenever I'm guarding her."

"So? Just ignore her." I gave a small shrug, remembering back to the advice Brick had given me before, when I had previously been irate with Kass when she still went by her old title. "She's just trying to piss you off."

"Yes, that's easy to say, not that easy to do." She responded, her arms still clutching at me, her tail coiling tighter around my legs. It felt special, holding her against me, in a serene sort of way. It was so different from a cuddle with another human, it felt like the first time all over again, but better. The nervousness, the excitement, it was all there at the same time. It's kind of hard to see how I struggled to see her in such a light before, it was clear as day right now how much I wanted to be here and nowhere else. "I spent my entire life looking up to her as a leader. She was who I took my commands from, who I trusted with steering us as a species in the right direction. Now I know she was nothing more than another piece in the Elders' game of chess."

"A pawn?" I interjected, watching a faint smile on Kass' face appear in response.

"A bishop, at the very least. She played exactly how they wanted her to. She enabled their control over the Vipers." She sighed, her hand clutching on my shoulder. I could feel us breathing together, her body raising and lowering rhythmically. She was so warm, I felt like I was starting to overheat with her body on mine, but it was such a pleasant feeling that I wouldn't consider asking her to move.

"Hey, so I was speaking with Ruby earlier…" Kassara interrupted the silence that I had started to begin enjoying between us, bringing my mind back from my almost dream-like state, with a sense of dread filling me instead. I knew exactly what it was going to be about, I just didn't think Ruby would have passed on that information to Kassara. She told me she wouldn't tell anyone, but I guess I should know better considering how many secrets have been leaked around the Avenger so far, all concerning me, or at least most of them.

"I'm sorry, Kass, I didn't intend to tell her what I did, I don't have an excuse." I apologized before she could continue. I felt her begin to laugh as she cuddled into me further, small hisses escaped her mouth as she giggled to herself whilst clutching me into her, her claws pressuring against my skin underneath.

"It would be…hypocritical of me, if I were to be upset at you for spilling a secret." She argued, dismissing my apology. I felt my body lose the tension I hadn't realized accumulated so quickly "But she did tell me what happened, and told me not to blame you anyway. She hasn't told anyone else." She reassured. Her hand left my shoulder, brushing up my neck, and onto my face, her fingertips carefully brushing against my skin to avoid her claws from scratching me as she caressed my cheek. Her scales were smooth upon my skin, though it wasn't the same softness a human's finger would provide, it was a different feeling; her fingers glided across my skin with minimal friction. "But I thought it would be good to clarify, between us, what you want to do about the publicity of us dating."

"You mean whether we tell everyone or not?" I asked, semi-distracted by her touch upon my skin. It was oddly soothing, though I was still a little wary of her claws; I could see them as they moved fairly close to my eye, but she seemed to be watching it as well.

"Yes, exactly. I don't really want to have another secret to keep. It was terrible trying to keep them before, and we saw how they turned out." She hesitantly explained.

"Yeah, I understand," I said with a sigh. "I just worry about what some of the other soldiers would think. I can't imagine Goblin, Elena, and Samurai would happily accept us 'dating' as such." Kassara raised her head from against my neck, her eyes staring back down into mine once more, her hand dropping onto my chest to provide herself some leverage to raise herself.

"I don't want us to be hidden, not even from them. I don't care if Elena decides to hate me, I don't care if Goblin wants to call me names, insult me, attack me, I don't care. I just want to be with you and not have to hide it to everyone, and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of it." She spouted, the excitement playing across her face.

"As long as you're sure," I smiled back at her, lifting my own hand to return the caress of the cheek. My thumb brushed along the scales along the side of her cheek, the scales rigid, but still smooth. I could feel the scales shift with her smile, as she leaned her head into my hand, almost as if she were melting into me. "I guess I'm just surprised you're happy to stand up to them now."

"It's because I think you're amazing, and even though I am, as you would maybe put it, 'scared as shit', it doesn't matter as long as I have you. You mean a lot to me." She responded, not missing a beat.

"Really?"

"Yes, really." She concurred, her tongue flicking out briefly, the fork of the tip grazing against my nose. It was a really weird gesture, but I understood the intention behind it, I think. It was endearing in its own way. "You don't understand how much things have just made sense since last night. I feel like I've removed a weight from my chest, and it's just easier for me to be here. Even if, you know, nothing much has changed really. It still meant a lot."

"What do you mean nothing's changed? I wouldn't have caught myself cuddling you beforehand." I teased her, watching her expression turn from one of unadulterated happiness to her best attempt at a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, so you don't remember cuddling up to me before back on our little trip to the Liberated?" She returned the attitude, moving both of her hands to my chest. I could feel her pressure, her weight down upon me.

"Well, in a different context, sure. But I mean like this. This feels special." I justified. She seemed content with my reason, lowering herself back onto me, laying her head on my chest, her hands cushioning her chin underneath. I could see the decorative patterns on the back of her hood, the sharp black chevron, followed by the strips of brown scales down her tail as it wound around me.

"It does feel special. Even with a human." She jabbed, catching my eye with one of hers from under her hood. I reached my hands onto the top of her head as she lay still on me, tracing the top of the chevron with my fingers, running it to the edges and back.

"You know, it feels really nice when you do that…" She sighed into me, her tail tightening briefly, as if giving my legs a small squeeze in a hug. "I think it's because your skin is just so soft. It feels like very slightly ticklish, but just the right amount that it's just really relaxing and pleasurable…"

I allowed myself to feel prideful at her comment, running my fingers along the edges of her hood, watching it quiver occasionally under my touch. Kassara let out a small, satisfied hum, the same sort you might expect from someone being given a massage. Maybe that's what this felt like to her. Again, it struck me the oddity of the fact that I was cuddling an Alien. A real-life Alien. Something I would have considered an impossibility for so much of my life. Something I would have considered preposterous and even wrong not only a couple of months ago, or sooner. But yet, here I was, enjoying the company of a Viper, every moment of it. Her sleek scales provided little resistance to my hands, whilst not being as rigid as the scales on her face. I could squish very lightly down onto the scales without the bone underneath preventing me from doing so, though the tautness of her scales did provide some resistance.

Maybe if I wasn't keeping myself occupied with her, I would have ended up drifting off to sleep. I felt super relaxed, even being unable to move my body because of Kassara, I could see myself falling into a slumber with her with me. And that knowledge brought me an extra warmth on top of the heat she provided. My brain wandered, thinking about every time the thought may have ever crossed my mind about going out with Kassara. Admittedly, it was probably at the camp, as I sat in a broken down roller coaster ride with Kassara huddled up against me that I first realized my actual feelings for her. The fact that she cared for me, looked after me whilst I was busy feeling sorry for myself because I couldn't deal with being told that I had fucked up and killed someone probably helped solidify the feelings within me for her, even if it was just in my subconscious at that point in time. And even with all of the drama coming out about us, even with being punished again for something that happened months ago, it was so easy to look past it and know this was what would make me happy. She looked so cute like this, it only made me want to be like this for longer.

"So what did your Matriarch say to you when you were on shift, specifically?" I asked, continuing to run my fingers along her hood, feeling every bump of every scale I ran them over.

"Well, she commented on us because Ruby told her we were going out, inadvertently," She started. I guess I shouldn't have trusted Ruby with the information after all, if she's already revealed that information to two others. It was only going to be a matter of time before it was common knowledge anyway, I suppose it's better if we beat the Matriarch to the punch at revealing our relationship to everyone else on board the Avenger, I guess. "So she was being pretty irritating going about saying how she saw it in the way we acted or something, I didn't particularly listen."

"Wait, she called that we were gonna go out beforehand? Is she not like...against our relationship?" I questioned, pausing my petting briefly before returning, feeling her head relax back into my chest under my touch.

"I don't know if she is, she seemed okay with it." She began chuckling to herself, her hands running back up my body to my shoulders, slightly pulling my shirt with them. "But yeah, she told me before that she thought you liked me."

"Damn, she called me out early..."

"Yes, I didn't really believe her beforehand though. Other than that, she was complaining about the fact that they have pretty much decided not to replace her in any way, shape, or form as a leader." She continued, her soft-spoken voice a murmur, sounding as if she herself was falling asleep as well. Especially with her voice sounding as sleep-laden as I felt, my eyes were only struggling to stay open even more.

"I'm sorry that it's going that way for Vipers. I know it doesn't sound promising, but you know the Commander will do whatever he can to help you." I reassured, my voice lulling with my syllables.

"I wish that were the case, Zero. The Commander has been fairly adamant that he's not taking risks, and not looking to save Vipers specifically. It's X-Com, after all, the goal is to get rid of the Elders. There's very little consideration for what will happen to all of the Aliens under their rule." She sighed, slowing at every sentence. Even in its state, my mind picked up the sorrow hidden in her voice. I knew she had spoken to the Commander about the Viper King, as everyone was calling the new Viper they had encountered. Apparently, the conclusion was to treat him as the enemy, adding another to the growing list of things that wanted us dead. Each of the chosen, now each of the three Alien rulers that were out there somewhere, all terrifying amalgamations of genetic mutation of the Alien species.

"So, he's not helping?" I summarized for myself, watching her nod slowly as she lay against my chest. I wrapped my hands around the top of her back, pulling her into me very briefly, trying to comfort her slightly. I wanted to tell her it would be okay, reassure her that there's something that could be done. But realistically? It was out of sight. As long as she stayed here, if what I know of the Viper cloning problem that she faced, there's was very little chance there would be a future for a completely organic Viper species. They would all eventually be clones, with no means of reproduction. "We'll find a way." I finally uttered, trying to give myself some hope as well as her. I could only believe my own words so much.

She let no more words come between us, both of us enjoying the presence of the other. We tumbled down into our joint slumber, maybe aware of the possible consequences, but both of us too content, too comfortable, too sleepy to do anything about it. So with the beautiful, elegant creature in my arms, I felt myself slowly enter into my dream world once more.

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 17:57 06/15/2035, Location: Unknown)

The first four days of me 'dating' Zero have been blissful, for the most part. It's intoxicating, the closeness that I am able to have with this human, the proximity in which we can spend our time, and it is the complete opposite of repulsive. Never in my time on this planet had I considered such a thing a want, let alone a base need, as I may categorize it now. When I'm with him, I feel like I can talk to him about anything, do anything, and without him, my mind never lets me forget him. Relationships weren't a sought-after material in Advent, not for Vipers. It's not like they had any options; Humans were seen as 'lesser', other Vipers were all females, and seen as 'unnatural'. Even with the few misunderstood feelings I may have harbored during my time on board the Avenger for Zero, I had never felt so strongly towards another being before. And it made me happy, significantly so.

As agreed, we didn't hide our relationship to anyone on the ship. Not that we had much of an option anyway, Deadbolt and Samurai walked into the dorm room seeing Zero and I together. I'm unsure if people have speculated on us doing anything more at the moment, as most haven't poked or prodded aside from Ruby. Though, admittedly, whilst we haven't done anything of the sort, and Zero hasn't shown any particular interest in doing so soon, I am aching for that something closer with him, it's a carnal wanting that I can't particularly fulfill. I don't want to scare him away again though, after pushing that topic on him whilst I was drunk, his reaction was…a bad one, for the goal to be achieved. It would be easier if I let him do it on his own terms if he wanted to. I must understand, I keep reminding myself, that I am an Alien to him, and the idea may be odd, to say at the least, to him.

Aside from Deadbolt and Samurai, who unfortunately found out in person, we've told most of our friends; Brick, Echo, Firehawk, Twitch, Ash, Venom all included. Brick seemed the happiest for us, gushing about how it was fate, that we finally came together. I think Zero is partially proud to sort of show me off to people, I could feel his excitement when he spoke about me to others, it was particularly flattering in all honesty.

However, there are the downsides of us being a couple on the ship. Elena had expressed her distaste at us, speaking of us as unnatural, and speaking more of the psychological warfare the Elders had waged against the humans. I don't think she likes Zero particularly much, particularly after the rumors had gone around the ship of the incidents before, but she was more amicable to me, despite her small rant, she did wish us well together. Though she's been avoiding us like the plague, in a similar fashion to Samurai. That man still concerns me, he's been so obviously against my presence here since day one, untrustful of me, without ever explaining why.

However, Goblin did not take our news very well. I let Zero tell him on his own, as I'm very sure Goblin would react worse in my presence. I had only ever received angry glares from him; he made no effort to conceal his feelings towards me. Zero told me it didn't go well at all, Goblin had claimed I was poisoning Zero, as if I was trying to do something bad to him by dating him. I don't think Zero told me everything Goblin had to say, and I tried to coerce more out of him at one point, to little avail. I must trust that he knows if it is indeed best not to tell me, as hard as it is to put faith in someone else's judgment. I trust him.

Currently, I was in the Rec room with Brick and Ash, leaving Zero to his workout. He didn't seem too keen on letting me join him on the grounds of he would get sweaty and didn't want me to see him like that yet. It seems a weird thing to be conscious of considering we go out in the field together; I'm fully aware of what he looks like in that sort of state. But it did leave me some time to catch up with others without him. I've enjoyed spending so much time with him, the days rushed by. I have a feeling he appreciated the space, though.

"I'm just happy for you guys. It's like you finally sorted yourselves out, between each other." Brick smiled, surmising the gossiping about Zero she had instigated. There wasn't much to give her, not much I felt comfortable telling her without Zero's go ahead anyway, but she was definitely a huge gossiper, I could see her reveling in any bit of information I gave her about us.

"You two are setting a new precedent, as far as I'm aware. Not to put any unneeded importance on your relationship, but it's…groundbreaking, in all honesty." Ash complimented alongside, gleaming at me with her grey scales. "I knew he was different when I met him with you in South Africa. Though, I didn't ever expect this to happen between you two, despite how close you seemed when you rescued me."

"Ah, I'm enjoying my time with him. It's new, we're still trying to figure things out." I gave a smile in return, trying to be a bit more modest.

"Oh, I haven't told you yet have I?" Ash excitedly began, seeming to squirm in her seat with the sudden excitement. "We've got a new project in Engineering since the Doctor you rescued has joined the team. We're building something they've called the 'Shadow Chamber'. It's supposed to be more specially designed to handle more risky experiments that they plan to do."

"What sort of experiments?" Brick questioned, her voice holding suspicion, possibly doubting the ethical side of the experimentation.

"Well, the doctor knows a lot about the gene research the Elders were doing, at least compared to anyone else here. He's been analyzing the vial that X-Com obtained from the Blacksite mission. He wants to run a bunch of tests on it that he says will require sterile conditions, more refined equipment, and so on. I certainly don't think he's been that fond of the lack of equipment at his disposal that he may have had whilst he was at Advent." She laughed, not being cautious whatsoever of the drink that she held in her hands, almost unaware of it, though she hadn't spilled any of it yet. "But so far he's more assured that the Advent project is about finding some sort of DNA cure for something to do with the Elders. Though, nobody has their hands on Elder DNA, that would be kind of cool admittedly. But he's also told us that the Elders are pretty close to what they wanted. Closer than we may have thought. We may only have a matter of months before they achieve their goal here on Earth." She continued, though her face changed from the unrestrained excitement to one more of concern. "Sorry, I'm speaking too much, I didn't mean to..."

"No, no! It's fine, you're not talking too much. It's nice." Brick reassured, not missing a beat to help Ash. "It's important to us anyway...I suppose we don't really get to hear about all the new stuff that happens in Engineering, we only get to see the results. Like, we know when the medkits have been upgraded, or we get new weaponry or armor, but they don't particularly tell us everything that happens. You kinda have to go to the archives and see for yourself when you want to. I had actu-"

Brick's sentence was cut short as the red warning lights abruptly turned on, a wailing alarm accompanying the intrusive lights, the intercom switching on, loud enough to sound of the noise of the alarms.

"All active soldiers report to the hangar, the havens are under attack. All active soldiers report to the hangar, the Resistance havens are under attack." Bradford's voice chorused above us. Brick leaped to her feet, cutting the conversation off. I joined her in her urgency, barely giving Ash a wave goodbye as I headed out of the room, both of us pacing it towards the armory and hangar area, catching sight of other soldiers in front of us as we got closer, Ruby striding down the corridor, worry etched onto her face. We followed her through the door to the hangar, and then into the armory. The clamor around us was ridiculous, every soldier talking with the one next to them as they put on their armor, piece by piece, loading their guns and equipping grenades and medkits onto their holsters.

"What's going on?" Brick asked Elena, who turned around to us with her mask on and hood up, still loading her rifle with the individual rounds.

"Most of the resistance camps have been hit simultaneously. Large amounts of Advent forces are attacking all of the major camps X-Com associates with, and they have hit the Templar base and the last location of the Liberated. I don't know what's caused them to strike now..."

"Shit...so what, we're all gonna be shipped out to different locations, how?" I asked, watching the creepy eyes of the mask stare into mine for a split second before she decided to answer.

"The Commander's assembling teams and sending the Skyranger out as soon as possible. The first squad will be able to get to the first haven quickly, and the second should be out within the hour. But I don't think we have enough resources to send any more squads out than that." She explained, slinging her rifle around her shoulder with the strap attached to the weapon, pushing her way past us and outside.

I started hurrying to get weapon sorted out, already having my armor on other than the greaves and helmet that needed to be attached. However, I paused as I heard my name get called out above the general ambiance of the chatter of the soldiers, Bradford's deep, graveled voice booming above everyone else.

"Kassara!" He called out, meandering his way between the soldiers towards me. "You won't be needed today, we don't need Vipers around a panicked group of civilians amidst any fire and flames. We have supplied the havens with weapons, so they should be able to hold out for some time until help arrives, but can't risk them shooting at our own troops." He ordered, not having to shout now he was next to me.

"What? Sir, I can help, the risk doesn't matter if I can help save the haven." I immediately complained, not understanding why my help couldn't be used regardless. I'm a skilled sniper, I didn't have to go near the civilians, but I could still assist in taking down Advent.

"No, Kassara." He denied, his words final and absolute, turning to leave without any further discussion. I didn't know how to feel immediately, I just stopped and stared, watching the other soldiers prepare around me as I stood still, my entire purpose for X-Com forfeit at this point in time. Brick gave me an apologetic look as she too headed out, the bright gun in her hands, even as more soldiers still filtered their way in. Twitch, Deadbolt, Firehawk, Echo, everyone was getting ready.

"Do not fret about it, Kassara, there's not going to be the time or space to field everyone to defend the havens. I understand your frustration, the inability to be able to offer your aid and assistance, but do not worry about that, there will only be so many that can." Mox comforted, approaching up in front of me. He held his bullpup weapon by his side, his helmet removed so I could see the inhuman features of his face staring back up at me. "You should cheer on your fellow soldiers, the ones taking the fight to those monsters. The burden is not on you." I think he saw me in a different light than the other human soldiers on board the Avenger, due to the exposure of knowing Vipers for the rest of his life, unlike the others here, and it showed in his confidence and comfort around me.

"Yes..." I meekly responded, barely keeping focus on him, still watching the movement of the crew around me, the noise of their chatter, the clinking and clanking of weapons and armor, readying for use.

"Kass, are you okay?" I heard a voice amidst the rabble. Zero's hand fell against my arm, drawing my attention to him, all geared up with his Sniper in hand. Mox gave me a curt nod before taking his leave, fixing his helmet as he left us to ourselves.

"You look a little lost." He said a little quieter, keeping our conversation just between the two of us.

"Yes...I'm not going." I explained, with my own confusion still seeping into my voice.

"Oh, that's odd." He paused. I could see him try to figure out the answer to his unasked question quickly, but he obviously was in a hurry. "I kind of need to head off, and get ready to go on the mission. Wish me luck." He gave me a big wide grin. My confusion left me or that second, the warmness that I often experienced with him flooding me and relieving me of my state.

"You don't need luck with your abilities. But best of luck, regardless." I bubbled, opening my arms in an invitation of a hug. Zero paused, placing his sniper on the table to the side of me, then embracing me, despite our armors clashing together. "Stay safe, Zero. I can't wait to see you when you get back." I whispered to him, my mouth next to his ear as he wished his final goodbye, picking his weapon back up and heading for the door. He simply glanced back over his shoulder, giving me a cocky grin, before leaving the room. I slowly began to undo all of my armor, except for the main chest plate I still wore around the ship, though I don't think it was that necessary anymore. It wasn't really, was it, the whole point was to stop me being shot as I was integrated. I took the rest of the armor off, leaving me in the much more comfortable black undershirt. Without the armor I wouldn't have to deal with the extra weight and reduced mobility as well, which was always the main two downsides of wearing it. I hung my gun back up on the rack, before leaving the commotion of the hangar and armory, and heading back up to the rec room.

As I arrived back in the room I had left Ash in, I saw here tip back the rest of her drink, already starting to move to leave before she saw me. She sort of did a double take, before addressing the fact that I was back up here.

"I thought they needed you for the mission?" She asked, her voice layered with her own confusion.

"Yes, I thought the same. They didn't want me to go in case I got shot by the resistance group." I sighed, moving past her, and coiling up near the seating area in front of the large television screen, leaving a small silence between us as I set everything up to begin watching.

"Do you...Do you mind if I stay here with you for a bit? I haven't got to watch a mission before..." Ash began nervously, stuttering over a couple of the words. She was always more noticeably nervous when talking to someone one on one, it was never apparent as soon as she was in a group.

"Of course, if you go get us another drink each." I teased, watching her snap her head to the bar, before back to me.

"What would you like?"

"Eh...Something with alcohol. A cider would probably be nice." I decided, my tongue not particular favoring the idea of drinking a soft drink. Plus, alcohol did have a nice calming effect on me, at the very least. And I could definitely do with being a bit calmer. Ash returned within a couple of minutes two identical drinks in her hands, as she took a spot next to me, passing me the large glass of bubbling liquid.

"Cheers," I held up my drink to her, imitating the humans I had seen a few times whenever they had a drink. Ash lifted her glass to meet mine, a small clink indicating that they had touched, before I took my first sip as we waited for the cameras to show what was going on. Currently, there was a black screen, which is understandable; they probably were still en route to the first haven.

"What's happened, do you know?" Ash asked, not having taken a drink from hers yet. I paused before I answered, watching as Samurai entered into the room, pausing for a minute, and turning to leave, moving out of the way of a couple of other soldiers coming to also watch what was happening. Venom and Deadbolt both walked over to the bar, obviously getting drinks before they joined us.

"I think every single haven across the American continents has been hit by large Advent forces, there's no way we can cover for them all." I summarized.

"Every haven? How did they know the locations?" She asked, half asking the question to herself, half asking it to me. I responded with a shrug, letting her think upon it for a while longer.

"It's possible they've known for a while. They had...these monsters, that could disguise themselves as humans the last time they raided a haven. They look like nine-foot tall pink globs with claws for hands, that's the best I can describe them. They've probably infiltrated every haven, to be fair." I tried to explain a possibility, leaving Ash with a look of diluted horror.

"Those things were the worst," Deadbolt agreed, slumping into one of the beanbags in front of us, Venom doing the same, careful not to spill his drink. "You run up to a civilian, thinking you can help rescue them, then suddenly you're running from something twice as tall as you. Terrifying." He annotated.

The screen flickered on before us, stopping the continuation of the topic, as the black switched to a deep, saturated blue, before a pixelated view of the Gremlin flying down onto the first haven that we could reach to defend, the resolution gradually clearing to form a more stable image. The orange groups of pixels became more defined to show the fires burning through the camps, flashes of gunfire showing as the Gremlin taking the image gradually lowered to the ground, the 6 soldiers on the defense coming into view, as they began to push into the orange haze ahead. Goblin, Elena, Echo, Brick, Ruby, and Twitch all moved together, Ruby taking the back of the group, whilst Elena took the lead, scouting for any enemies. They passed bodies of civilians on the floor, as they pushed further towards the main group of building in the middle of the compound, rounding small houses still on fire.

As they advanced, they found their first group of enemies, three Vipers, all moving quickly to try and flank the squad. However, Ruby's shot found one of the flanking Vipers, allowing the squad to try and focus on the other two. The Vipers however didn't engage, upon losing one of their own they retreated further into the compound. I started questioning everything I knew; this wasn't how we had been taught to engage with Advent. The aggressive flanking was new, they looked ready to use their weapons rather than any of the crowd control options we had naturally at our disposal. And usually, you called for back up, and held your position. What was the change in tactics about? I looked towards the others, I certainly saw Venom notice the difference, as he paused from his drink, comically tilting his head ever so slightly to one side. I felt my tongue flick out in my uncertain interest, out of habit more than anything else, and kept my eyes open, to the point of almost refusing to blink as I watched the screen in front of me.

They chased after the squad to little avail; the Vipers are simply too agile and escaped outside of their engagement distance before we had a chance to properly retaliate. Instead, we were forced to fight further up, where the larger communal building stood, the red bricks impervious to the fire, however there were clear signs of plasma damage of weapons fire on the walls, the windows shattered.

Elena pushed up first, the Gremlin following her to get the vision it needed. Inside, a group of resistance members, currently engaging a force to our left, possibly the group of Vipers that had just retreated. With the rest of the squad changing their positions, they moved to engage the Vipers again with the help of the haphazard resistance members, as they clumsily lay down suppressing fire on the targets, which prevented them from leaving their cover easily, if nothing else. But as the squad pushed up, instead of just the two Vipers, there were now five, having rejoined another pod of Vipers. However, one of the Vipers was more identifiable than the others, instead of the usual amber color that showed under the light of the fires around them, this Viper sported the same sleek, black, almost liquid-like armor, standing visibly taller than the other Vipers. Immediately the squad moved to take out the Vipers, A couple of well-placed grenades removed most of the Vipers' cover, the four normal Vipers quickly falling to the fire. But the armored Viper, didn't fall, even after taking Ruby's shot to the chest and a shotgun round, it still sprung forward, finding new cover behind a burned tree, the trunk still standing enough to provide enough, and taking three shots from its new position. Two found the resistance members cowering within the building, both falling to the pin-precision accuracy. The third hit Echo, the shot grazing her shoulder; insane aim considering the speed of the execution of the triple shot. The Viper didn't last much longer, however, Echo finding revenge with a well placed arc-blade strike to pierce through the armor, the new electrified swords the Rangers had access to which would rival the Stun Lancers' batons.

"Holy shit, that thing is a tank..." Deadbolt grimaced, speaking between sips of the drink he had chosen, some sort of whiskey mix if I was to guess by his previous habits. "It took two shots whilst without cover, and still didn't fall. What are they?"

"Some sort of new project of Viper soldier that the Matriarch had implemented a program for." I summarized, encapsulated by the performance on the screen. It showed the power of these new Vipers, so much so that even one versus nine, it could still pick off targets quickly and efficiently.

We continued to watch, various comments about the new Viper being discussed between the three of them, but I didn't pay much attention. Instead, all I could notice was the fact that the rest of the aliens that the group met as they pushed through successfully, after healing Echo, were all Vipers. Every last one of them. I couldn't see from the quality of the camera used, but I had the dreadful feeling in my heart, the sinking worry that these were all natural Vipers. This was a planned attack that achieved either one of two things, or both; One, that the havens could be attacked, and a serious blow to X-Com dealt through its supply line. Second, that without a leader, the Vipers could be assimilated into Advent rule using the cloning facilities alone. They were expendable. Every last one of them.

* * *

 _AN:_ _A huge thank you for your patience, it has been a slow chapter again, unfortunately, but I want to try and get back on top of things now my dissertation is finished. Hopefully, anyway!_

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	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

(Captain 'Zero', 09:36 EST, 06/17/2035, Location: Unknown)

I left the cafeteria, having had my breakfast this morning with Kassara, Brick, and Echo, and started heading towards Engineering. I told Ash I would meet up with her there yesterday, she said she could use my help in a project she was doing, and I could also catch up with the knowledge she had from being in Engineering at the same time. I was curious to see what would happen now we had our hands on that new armor. It's completely new tech, it would be amazing to see it myself, if I would be lucky enough anyway. But it also meant the potential for new armor for Kassara. I assume it wouldn't fit directly; from memory of meeting them both on the field and in the Matriarch's office they were notably larger than the size of regular Vipers, so it couldn't be repurposed for Kassara to use immediately, at least not with a significant adjustment.

She had also been wearing only her undershirt around the Avenger, following our missions to the Havens. It was...distracting, to say the least. It looked way more comfortable for her though, and more like the rest of us. It's not like we walked around the Avenger ourselves wearing the predator armor that Shen developed for us, so I guess it made sense for her to dislike wearing the armor. Bradford hadn't complained about it, not to my knowledge anyway. But I wasn't going to take issue with it, not in the slightest. She looked nicer in it, and it stopped any kerfuffle of needing to remove the armor if we wanted to give each other a hug. And seeing her back on the Avenger it was hard enough to restrain myself to just a hug. I wanted to kiss her, badly. I know it's too early in the relationship to be thinking about that maybe, but I didn't want to waste time. It's not like we necessarily had all the time in the world to take it step by step. After we both spent so long bottling up any potential feelings for the other in fear of the consequences, it became increasingly harder not to be overly affectionate. I don't know about her; she's a Viper, for all I know they aren't particularly affectionate creatures, or whether they even like the same things I would expect a human partner to. But it was none of this that was stopping me from kissing her, or at least attempting to. Instead, it was my own awkward self trying to think about how it would work. Vipers had no 'lips', not the same as humans, and I couldn't wrap my head around how it would end up being pleasurable for her at all. That's what stopped me at the time. Maybe she was expecting it? Who knows. I wasn't going to try and take the risk.

I pushed open the doors to Engineering, walking in to see Ash and Twitch sat together on one of the workbenches toying with some sort of helmet, or at least that's what it looked like on the first inspection. It looked like an old pilot helmet, with a blue-colored visor on the front. Ash looked up towards me, flashing a Kassara-like smile back at me, waving me over towards them.

"Good morning, Zero," Twitch greeted distractedly, as he concentrated on his work, tweezers in his right hand as he poked around inside a small panel in the side of the helmet. He was hunched over it and obscuring most of the wires, so I couldn't see inside.

"You've been working on something?" I asked, nodding towards the helmet. Twitch didn't look up from his work or respond, letting Ash tell me instead.

"Yes, yes, Twitch had this idea. So you know how most of the imaging that the Avenger receives is from that one Gremlin to record things for them to give orders? Well...it makes more sense if the Commander can watch from our views instead. No need for the extra equipment, and 6 angles to look from, at a moment's notice. It's just efficient, really." She explained, he red eyes concentrating at what Twitch was doing. "So, if we, uh, implemented this technology, there are more things we can do with it. Geo-imaging, for example. Essentially, cameras powerful enough that with multiple perspectives they can help map the terrain...I want to see what's possible."

"And Shen is happy with you guys doing this?" I asked, remembering how much she liked to keep Ash and me on task when we were making the armor.

"At the moment, yeah. She's been a bit busy with the armor." Twitch answered again, mumbling to the point where he was only really just audible.

"The Viper armor?"

"Yup, that's the one." He responded quickly.

"Can I see it?" I asked, finally getting him to look up from what he was doing, first at me and then to Ash.

"I don't see why not. We have one in here." Ash shrugged her slender shoulder briefly, slithering over to a workbench further along the room, not looking back to check if I was following. "We have 3 sets of the things, custom-fitted to each Viper, I think. The Vipers are...interesting. They aren't clones." She continued to explain, brightening the light above the table to bathe the matte black armor lying in the middle. It seemed to shimmer as I approached the segment of armor, what looked to just be the main chest piece. It seemed to move as I moved my head about at different angles.

"Wow..." Was all I could formulate with my mouth as I stood in awe at the technology in front of me.

"Yes, that's what everyone first says when they see it. Odd, isn't it?" She laughed slightly at my reaction as I picked it up, feeling the material for myself. It felt metallic, but warm to the touch, and still shimmered as I moved it around.

"What is the...what is it?" I asked, still bemused by the armor.

"It's a refractive alloy." She explained and continued after watching my response to this statement. "It's armor that has the potential to refract light around the wearer. Quite simply, it turns invisible. Or more, it is practically invisible unless you know what you're looking for. It's flexible, strong, and complex. We're still trying to figure out how it works, but until then we have these sets of armor."

"Stealth Vipers." I summed up, placing the armor back down. She shrugged slightly again, glancing at me briefly before looking back at the armor.

"It's what we transcribed from the project data I recovered. These Vipers that are in this aren't clones, they are naturally bred 'Super-Vipers' as such. Genetically engineered, to some degree, but not clones. They have, from what I've theorized, shorter lifespans, but they are stronger, bigger, smarter, and fast. Very fast. The project report indicated potential response times of under 0.015 seconds. It's insane." Ash remarked, turning to start heading back to Twitch.

"Put that in terms of my reaction time?" I asked.

"Ten times faster than a trained human being." She answered without hesitation. "They are essentially super-soldiers, Zero. They have to be naturally bred to instill the training they receive within them as they grow up. The Vipers we saw in the field are likely very young." What she said was a scary premise. Soldiers bred purely for war. They were trying to gear up against us, make themselves stronger. But that doesn't explain why they'd be using them to attack the Havens.

"I should tell Kassara immediately," I started, the only thing going through my mind was being able to reassure Kassara that there were still natural Vipers being bred at least, which means that the male Vipers weren't being killed. not all of them, anyway. All I could think about was knowing that I could put her mind at ease, if only a little.

"Hey, wait, you said you'd come help with our project?" Ash stopped me before I made any headway, pleading with me to help her with the red eyes that popped out in contrast to her grey scales.

"Sorry, I did, didn't I?" I chuckled, having completely forgotten about my promise. I removed my hand from the back of my neck; an instinctive reaction for me that I was trying to kick.

"Is it ready, Twitch?"

"I...I think so?" He responded, his voice becoming shrill to signify his uncertainty. He picked up the helmet, taking it over to a set of monitors behind him, placing it to the side as he typed quickly on the keyboards, the screen lighting up as the helmet verified that it was responsive. Ash moved to look over his shoulder as she stared at the monitor as well.

"Seems okay...Alright, Zero, can you take this helmet and wear it?" She asked, taking the helmet and handing it to me carefully with two hands. I took it from her, turning it around to look at the chunky helmet with the blue visor. The helmet itself looked old and more in place in a jet fighter than on a soldier, it was simply too large, like a giant white target with a blue bullseye. I fitted it on, adjust the straps to fit me better.

"How do I look?" I jokingly asked.

"Stupid, but it's an improvement than without it." Twitch quickly responded, earning a laugh from Ash. He glanced over to her with a smile on his face, happy he got the reaction he wanted.

"I can still see you through this blue visor, just to let you know." I snarkily responded, shooting him a middle finger back, hearing more laughter from the both of them. I couldn't help but let a smile come to my face also. "What do you need me to do."

"Move around through the room. Go to the end of the room and back, stopping three times for each way, and come back on different sides. Essentially, think of it as mapping the room. Well, we are mapping the room, so yeah." Twitch ordered. I obliged, taking paces like I was being watched by my teacher back in Advent, stopping as requested at several points, before returning to them.

"Well, what now?" I asked. They looked to each other, a short amount of confusion playing upon their faces before they both turned to mess with the monitors again, both typing on keyboards and muttering to each other about what was going on.

"They're syncing but they aren't mapping the parts of the room to each other." Twitch diagnosed, watching Ash shake her head.

"No, no, it's running the algorithm through to try and corroborate the different viewpoints. See? There, it's coming through now." Ash exclaimed proudly. "Now let's get the map set up...divide it into cells of a meter square per cell."

"How do I?... Never mind, I got it..." Twitch continued to murmur as they typed away. "Hey, Zero, stand here for me?" He asked, pointing to where he was stood previously at the workbench. I obliged, standing where he was, feeling stupid as I stared at them through the blue-tinted lens.

"Turn the other way. Face the room."

"But then I can't see what you are doing."

"That's not the point, man. Just do it." He ordered once more. I accepted, turning to face the empty room, staring along the workbenches I had just been walking around.

"Here, room is mapped. Uploading image...here. Okay, Zero, we can see what you see right now. Is your visor showing you anything?" Ash instructed.

"No, nothing. No change."

"Okay..." She muttered disdainfully. "Are you sure you wired that thing up correctly?"

"I hope so," Twitch responded. "The wires should be in the correct places, I spent ages on them to get it right." He surmised. "Something on our end."

"Oh, haha, I see what we did. We're uploading but not sending the input back. Whoops. Try this instead..." I was getting a little irate at having to listen to their conversation without being able to see what they were doing, but suddenly the visor lit up a slight shade brighter, the room brightening more than it had done, to the point where I could see into the shadows underneath the workbenches much more easily. Edges of objects glimmered with the faintest of blue, barely noticeable through the blue-tinted lens, but it sort of outlined every object to me very slightly, more so the closer they were."

"There we go...Are you seeing this?" Twitch asked.

"Yeah, I got it, I think..." I responded, looking around the room.

"Alright, set up the grid." Twitch instructed quietly to Ash. Suddenly, a wave of blue passed through the room, and suddenly it was covered in faint blue squares on the floor, each about a footstep in length, right up to the very end. My mouth opened in awe, as I stepped forward, looking down at my feet as I stepped into the next square, watching the square fill with the very faint blue underneath my feet.

"This is...wow..." I uttered, listening to the excitement behind me, as they started celebrating it working.

"Wait, wait, we should test the interface. That was the point, right?" Ash reminded Twitch behind me. I turned around to watch them pull up a holographic interface, showing the tiles on their screen from an almost top-down view. They tapped a square further up in the map on the interface, which then glowed a bright yellow color. I turned back around to face the room, watching as the corresponding square lit up in my visor. I moved towards the square, next to one of the empty workbenches further in the room. The visor struggled slightly to keep updated with my movement, the squares becoming slightly distorted as I move, but it was clear enough. As I reached the yellow square, it turned green as soon as I stood on the square, before settling back into the faint shimmering blue.

"Wooooo!" Ash whooped immediately, ecstatic with the result. "We did it! It works!"

"Hell yeah it does!" Twitch rejoiced with her, both leaping away from the keyboard. I watched as they gave each other a high five, both grinning ear to ear at each other.

"I can bring this to the Commander right away. It will need fine-tuning, and the visuals need work, but we can do this. We can use this." She repeated herself, almost stammering in her excitement. "Zero, thank you for your help."

"Hey, don't mention it." I gave her a brief smile. She turned around and thanked Twitch, before rushing out of the doors with the helmet in hand.

"Nice work on the helmet and stuff. Whose idea was it?" I asked Twitch, once the doors that Ash had just rushed through had finished closing, not leaving an awkward silence between us too long.

"Actually mine...but Ash had to help me learn some of the coding necessary for everything. I know it may not have appeared like it, but I reckon she would have been able to do the project like twice as fast on her own." He said, chuckling nervously between his sentences. He was just staring at the screen, which was still uplinked to the helmet that Ash was carrying, so we could just see a blur of the corridors as she rushed through them.

"So what...she taught you how to do it all?"

"Sort of...She let me work at my pace, and let me figure stuff out a lot of the time. I don't know why, I'm fairly sure she's like, super capable with computers and stuff, but she let me learn as we were doing it." He shrugged. He walked over towards the workbench he was working on earlier, picking up a bottle and taking a quick sip from it. "I don't know whether it's because she wants me to learn, or maybe just doesn't want to seem that condescending or patronizing, I don't know. Either way, I guess I appreciate the sentiment, but it's just straight-up better if she had just taken the entire project herself."

"Haha, maybe she's bored down here, you know," I offered the alternative, looking around. "I got pretty bored here when I was stuck doing stuff. But I guess she at least has an aptitude for all this stuff. And gets to work on the cool-looking armor now."

"Oh, yeah don't get me wrong, I'm not coming down here that often, not my thing. Just had this idea for a while...I felt like Ash could help me, so I asked her about it. Just hope the Commander likes it." He laughed, looking down at his feet with his arms crossed in front of him.

"Why didn't you go to show him yourself?"

"Well...she'll be better at explaining it. And I'm not sure I'm exactly allowed to tinker with stuff in Engineering. I'd just fuck it up really." He shrugged. "I'm fine with it, don't worry. She tried to talk me into showing him, I don't really want to hear it all again."

"Ah, alright," I relaxed my questioning. "But still, it's good. I think it'll be really useful out there, than just being told where to go if he can just click on a tile and show us where to go. So, great idea." I gave him a short smile. "I should head off, I need to find Kassara."

"Sure. See you later."

* * *

(Captain 'Kassara', 12:14 EST, 06/19/2035, Location: Unknown)

I lined up at the buffet station of food now on offer at the cafeteria, my eyes flittering between the various options available to me today. Steak with gravy, one of my favorites whilst I've been here, or breaded chicken, were my two choices that I could single out, but it was still hard for me to choose. A coin toss, as Brick might say, except I didn't exactly have any credit coins on hand to choose. I decided to go for the chicken, despite the fact that they were breaded made it harder to digest them properly, it was a worthy trade because of the taste, and the negative effects weren't that bad, just a bit of stomach growling, the last time I had tried it.

With my plate full and my stomach still empty, I retreated from the overwhelming amount of food on display back to my friends, sitting around a circular table. I had tagged along with Brick and Echo on the premise that we would be going to the gym afterward. I've been meaning to go more often, after looking at Zero's comparatively brutal regime where he would go 6 times a week; push, pull, legs, twice each. Whereas my once in a while going and just doing whatever on what was there probably wasn't cutting it in comparison. At least I didn't have to work out any legs as such.

As I sat down, I saw Zero enter through the doors to the cafeteria; it was impossible not to notice whenever he entered a room. Just looking at him made me feel a little happier on the inside. I watched eagerly as my partner moved towards the front of the room, grabbing a tray and his food. He turned around, facing the room, his eyes scanning the room, searching possibly for me. I was surprised he took so long, it wasn't like there were a lot of people here. I placed my food on the table, ignoring the greetings from the others, tuning out the less important information. I raised my body back up, bobbing and weaving to try and get a vision of Zero as he moved and disappeared briefly behind a couple of soldiers, trying to meet his eyes. I saw him lock onto me briefly, a smile flitting to his features briefly, and he waved a hand in my direction, but then continued on his search.

I slowly sat down, confused at what his intentions were. I had thought he was searching for me, but he didn't seem to be making his way over to me. I guess he wouldn't have needed to search for me so hard, it's not exactly like I'm hard to spot in a room of mostly humans, and Ash wasn't here to buffer the difference in any minute way. I kept my eyes on him as I sat back down, the calls of my name from Brick going unheard as I focused on my target. He had found who he was searching for, as he sat down at the table of the last person I had expected; Goblin. Sat alongside Saline and Samurai, he kicked out the chair for Zero to join them, the scraping of the legs against the floor not raising much above the general chatter in the room. Zero had told me that his talk with Goblin had gone pretty badly, but he still seemed to be on ok terms with him regardless. Maybe it was just me, but I'd have spent as much time as I could avoiding Goblin if I was in Zero's place currently. I'm sure it was just a human thing, maybe.

"Kassara?" Echo snapped sharply, trying to get my attention back towards them.

"Yes, sorry, sorry, I just got a bit distracted," I excused myself, turning back to the table and my food. It seemed less appetizing, or at least less interesting than keeping my eyes on what was happening with Zero. "What were you saying?"

"I was asking you about the Viper armor. Specifically, have you seen it yet?" Echo repeated, her frustration at having to ask me multiple times still seeping into her words even if she tried to hide it.

"Oh yeah, sorry," I started, trying to help ease her a little. I understood the frustration, she must have tried to ask me 2 or 3 times without a response, it would be enough to get a gun jammed in your face in Advent if a peacekeeper was addressing you. "I haven't been able to see it for myself yet, but Zero told me about it a couple of days ago." I answered, picking at my food, starting to eat before it cooled off too much.

Zero told me about the Viper armor, at least what he knows of it. He took me down to the shooting range, and told me about what Ash and Twitch had told him when he went to help them in Engineering, about the armor, about the whole super-Vipers project. So whilst I let him try out my rifle down the range, because he said he loves how cool and powerful it feels, he tried to explain what the armor was as best as he could. From what he told me, it was armor that was able to bend light around the wearer, as crazy as that sounds. Armor able to modify its own refractive index. It was scary, in theory, and I'm glad we haven't quite seen it in practice.

But he told me of what Ash let him know of the project. That the Vipers that wore the armor weren't clones. They were born and raised specifically as these super soldiers for Advent. At the time I sort of zoned out, the firing of his rifle was merely echoes to me, I just focused on what words he had just said. There were still natural Vipers, Advent hadn't completely disregarded Vipers as a race. No, because of this project that was started by the Matriarch, these new Vipers were still being bred, though for what particular purpose I'm unsure. Zero went on to say that the refractive armor was actually incorporated after the project was suggested by the Matriarch, based on what Ash told him from the project plans.

But that only really confused me about what was happening. It was unmistakable, they swept across America using only Vipers as their assault force, they must have been trying to get rid of the Vipers, but not for the reason that they were stopping breeding them. At the time I didn't know what it could possibly be, whether they were actually trying to phase out natural Vipers or not, and the two days of thinking had not improved what thoughts I had on the matter to any degree. But shooting my rifle down the range helped with the mix of emotions that ran through me at the news. I suspect Zero did that intentionally, it was sweet of him if that was his thinking behind it.

"I'm probably going to go see it down in Engineering. Ash says she can sneak us in and have a quick look if we go after lunch. I'm sure it'll end up being underwhelming, but until that's proven I think it'll be awesome and cool, and there's nothing you would be able to say to stop me thinking that." Brick spouted. "Do you want to come?"

"Nah," I dismissed with a wave of a fork, continuing to eat. It's not that I had anything in particular planned. Well, maybe I would prefer to bother Zero and see if he was doing anything I could join him with instead.

"Why not! It's Viper armor!" Brick complained at my answer. "This is potentially the kind of armor you'd end up wearing you know."

"I don't think so, I heard it was all custom-built, especially to Vipers of that size. You do realize they were like twice her size, right?" Echo jumped in for me, taking Brick's attention away from me for a second.

"Well, not really, I didn't notice. They're just Vipers right, they're all taller than us." Brick shrugged. "Maybe they look different to you all the way down there." She winked at Echo, leaving the teasing remark about her height with a simple grin to accompany the wink. Echo was less than impressed, scowling back at Brick.

"Shut up, you lumbering goon. They're huge, they're like…I don't know, over twelve-foot, standing up." Echo complained.

"She is just trying to wind you up, Echo," I lightly reminded. "She knows they are bigger."

"Yes, I know, and it's working!" She huffed as Brick let out another burst of laughter. They seemed like such an unlikely friendship; the woman who could find any situation given to her amusing, and the woman who seemed to find only the negatives of what was given to her. Maybe the differences between them ended up complimenting each other, but currently, I could just see Echo getting more frustrated at Brick.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard a loud slam across the cafeteria, and the scraping, grating noise of a chair being pushed across the steel floor, echoing around the room and drawing everyone's attention. My head turned towards its source, knowing already exactly who had done it. Goblin had stood up, pushing his chair back behind him causing the noise, now looming over Zero as the few people in the Cafeteria quietened to listen to his tirade against him.

"Fuck off, Zero, stop preaching just because you think you stand on some sort of some high ground just cause you decided to fuck an Alien. You forget what they have done to us, you forget what they stand for!" He shouted, his voice hoarse and deep as he berated his target.

"Goblin, stop making a scene," Saline started, but didn't continue as she was shut down by a glare from him, as sharp as it was quick.

"Goblin, I'm not trying to convince you of anything, I'm just asking if you can put your feelings aside on the matter for the sake of X-Com." Zero stated his argument, comparatively quieter than Goblin had made his. He sat staring up at the massive figure of Goblin, hands in front of him on the table, stupidly determined that even with the attention he could persuade the hulking soldier in front of him.

"You aren't listening, Zero. You shouldn't trust them, they are just using us to fill their own agenda. She is using you, and you can't see it. I can't ignore that, I can't ignore what she's doing to you. As soon as she gets her way, she'll kill you as quickly as she killed Alphabet." Goblin huffed, his hands slamming down on the table, leaning towards Zero. As soon as he said her name, I remember who it belonged to. The first X-Com soldier I killed, the woman who shot at me despite my surrender to them. Is that what all this was about?

"You can't seriously be equating the situation that happened with Alphabet with now?" Zero protested, his form slouching briefly, his voice echoing back from all the silent faces staring back at the both of them. Goblin peered around briefly, scanning across all the faces he had drawn the attention, his eyes locking with mine briefly, before returning to stare down Zero.

"Of course I'm not! This isn't about Alphabet, it's about you! You don't see what she's doing, you don't see her intentions, and she's using you willingly." He pointed at me, Zero's eyes glancing over to our table as Goblin drew his attention to us, however brief. "They don't care about us, if you think that she's acting how she is for any other reason than to save her own skin you are wrong. The minute she gets what she wants from X-Com, the minute she doesn't have 10 guns ready to shoot her if she fucks up, she'll kill you." He chided.

"What?" Zero asked exasperatedly.

"She doesn't care about X-Com. She's made friends with you, with Brick, with the others to try and protect herself. And she'll hide behind you and let you suffer as a result. She's played this entire thing so that she has someone willing to die for her, do you not understand?!" He shouted angrily, banging his fist against the table, the loud clatter startling Zero visibly.

"Are you just gonna let him do this?" I asked Brick, lowering my voice to avoid being heard. There were a couple of other soldiers whispering to each other, none audible enough to decipher the words from.

"It's not worth doing anything on. If I get involved it could start a fight. They're just arguing at the moment. Trust me, I know Goblin, he's a good friend of mine." She muttered back, leaning over to me to allow her hushed voice to be heard. "Zero knows what he was doing. I just don't think Goblin's exactly the kind of person who will listen."

"If you're not going to do anything then I will." I assured her. Brick started, her hand grasping my wrist, trying to hold me down before I got up.

"Kass, don't, you're going to make it worse." She hissed. I could still hear Goblin loudly berating Zero, though I was focused on Brick and didn't hear his words. I relaxed back into my chair, trusting my friend for now. She knew him better than I did. I returned to listening to the spectacle in the Cafeteria, the main event of the lunch.

"...hated the Liberated, she did nothing but stick up for me against other Vipers!" Zero proclaimed to him, standing out of his seat in return. In comparison, Goblin must have stood half a foot taller if not more, along with the bigger build. Zero looked totally outclassed.

"Only because I made sure she did." Goblin growled. "You're acting as if she wouldn't have just grouped herself with the other Vipers and left you to fend for yourself if I hadn't made sure she knew I would personally see to it that she would have to answer to me. Hell, with the Viper King out and about now, you reckon she'd happily pull the trigger?"

"What?"

"Do you really think she would kill the Viper King, the King of her species, for X-Com?" He asked, his voice threatening. I could feel my tongue catch in my throat at the question. Even I didn't know the answer. I saw Goblin look over to me, his dark eyes honed in on mine, evaluating, judging. I had asked the Commander to try and avoid the conflict, I had done what I could to see what options there were, but it was obvious that the King was going to attack X-Com soldiers should he see them. I wouldn't even begin to know what I would feel, what I would do if it ever came to the situation where I had to shoot him. And I think Zero hesitated enough to answer the question. He inadvertently showed his doubt, his lack of faith in what I stood for. And I don't blame him one bit for it. I didn't have the belief in myself either.

"So? Yes or no?" He taunted for the answer, stepping around the table, in a slow, almost aloof walk. Zero stood his ground, putting on his brave face as he waited. Goblin simply leaned in closer, lowering his face down towards Zero's.

"Yes, or no?!" He yelled, almost spitting. Zero flinched visibly from Goblin, recoiling from the raw aggression that he exerted with his voice. It was not something I could watch without doing something myself. I needed to defend my new partner, and I was already restraining myself from leaping to his defense earlier. I jumped from my seat, breaking my wrist from Brick's grip, despite her clamping down to try and hold me. I got up and weaved my way towards them, around the chairs and tables, losing my pursuer and rushing towards my target.

"That's enough, Goblin!" I hissed, placing myself between both of them, rearing myself up and above him, my hood flared and my fangs bared, my arms by my side but fully ready to react or strike as necessary. I could feel my blood pumping, my heart beating in the cold thrill of the situation. Brick had paused, left standing amongst other soldiers having been unable to catch me in time.

"Yes or no, Kassara?" He cooly asked. "I'm not asking anything hard. I'm not asking anything to easy either for you, I'm sure. But it's straight forward."

I measured up my opponent, watching his relaxed swagger, his confidence in his dictation of the situation exuding from him. He had backed off and given me and Zero the space, but I didn't relax from my pose until I felt Zero's hand clutch onto mine, no words or any pulling to get me away. Just his hand clasping onto mine was enough to force me to restrain myself once more, as I relaxed back into a more neutral pose. But it did nothing to remove the venom I could taste in my mouth, it did nothing to rid me of anger I felt towards Goblin. I just had to measure myself. Not for my sake, not for Goblin's. For Zero.

"I put X-Com first, above all else. But of course I would want my race to live, Goblin. But I'm not going to do so at the expense of anyone. Not Zero, not Echo, Saline, Elena, or you." I phrased my words carefully, trying to hide my anger, as I kept Zero behind me.

"You're not answering my question Kassara, I'll make it even easier for you." He sighed, coming closer to me again.

"Goblin, just leave it." Saline pestered him again.

"No! She's lying through her teeth and you can't see it!" He yelled, his unbridled anger in such contrast to how composed he had been a mere moment ago. "One chance Kassara, would you shoot the Viper King, yes or no?!" He spat through gritted teeth. "If you were told by the Commander to shoot at your one and only chance at rescuing your race from the Aliens, as I'm sure you see it, would you fire your weapon!?" He was practically yelling in my face, giving me the same treatment as he had given Zero. But I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction, I wasn't going to give him the ammunition.

"Without hesitation." I decided, giving my answer in full confidence. "He is an enemy of X-Com. If I am told to shoot him, I will."

"Oh yeah, because you listen to instructions so well. Or do I need to remind you of when you almost killed our team with your reckless behavior at the Templar Stronghold? Or do I need to bring up directly disobeying orders to help Zero? You got Vandal killed!" He retorted. It seemed it didn't matter if I gave him the right answer, he was always going to have an issue with it, he phrased it in such a way that he could make that point.

"Alright, Goblin, that's a load of shit, and you know it," Brick defended this time, deciding that she had had enough of his behavior. "Do not bring Vandal into this as well. Do not hang the deaths of our friends over Kassara, when you know just as well that it was not her fault." She exclaimed defiantly. He turned his head to look at her, sizing her up, before running his eyes over us once more. He didn't bother saying anything else; his point had been made. He simply turned, leaving us where we were, heading towards the exit of the cafeteria without a single glance back.

I turned around to Zero, who immediately embraced me, taking me by surprise slightly. He wrapped his arms around my waist, burying his face just under my neck. I heard the faintest of 'thank you's from him as he kept his head in the black fabric of my clothes. I was split between enjoying his touch and being fully aware of the fact that we were currently stood in the middle of a bunch of soldiers, a few that I knew didn't like me so much either. I pulled away from him slightly, and he got the message, releasing me.

"Thank you, both of you," He muttered, grabbing his food from the table he had been sat at before heading over towards the table where Echo was still sat.

"Don't mention it, Zero. It was going too far." Brick assured, clasping his hand around his back and squeezing him into her as they walked back. All I could think in my head is that I should have done that to Zero first, but it was too late to do anything about that now.

"What the hell were you thinking exactly? I don't see how you think this could have gone any other way," Echo started, as soon as he sat down. I saw Brick give her a look to drop it, but Echo wasn't going to listen. "You're an idiot for thinking you can change his mind."

"I wasn't..." Zero started combatively, taking a small pause to catch his breath and return to a calmer tone. "I wasn't trying to change his mind. I just...I worry he would end up lashing out at Kassara." He admitted. I felt my chest constrict slightly around my lungs that he was confronting Goblin because of me, he cared enough that he was trying to stand up for me. It was sweet of him, in its own way, though I'm sure I could handle myself fine without him intervening.

"You don't have to worry about me." I smiled at him, catching his eyes just for a moment as I sat down beside him, curling my tail underneath my seat. "I can handle him."

"I know you can handle yourself," He chuckled. "But that doesn't mean I want it to happen."

"It's not your job to mediate between Kassara and Goblin, Zero." Echo provoked again. "You know you can't change his mind. You said it yourself. Do you understand how condescending it came across to him?"

"Echo," Brick started, but she was cut off quickly.

"He's going to make it even worse though. You can't push him, you know that Brick." She made her case. I looked over to Brick, waiting for another argument to break out, but Brick just sat back in acceptance. You could read it on her face, on her lips. She agreed.

"You know, I'm not actually too hungry. I'll see you guys later." Zero said with a small huff, placing his cutlery on his plate with a clatter and heading off behind me. It took Brick a small nod in the direction he had headed off in a flick of her eyes, but I understood what she was saying, and I left to follow him. He had just left through the doors, I could catch up to him, though what I was going to say to him I didn't know. But I knew I needed to follow him, that was my top priority.

* * *

(Captain 'Zero', 12:52 EST, 06/19/2035, Location: Unknown)

"Zero, wait!" I heard Kassara calling behind me, the echoes of her voice reverberating around the corridor. I didn't know where I wanted to go, I needed to cool off, and I didn't need the company either.

"Leave me alone, I need some time by myself." I turned my head over my shoulder, watching her figure advancing quickly towards me. I forget how fast Vipers can move when they need to. She was a lot faster than my amped up walking pace either way, and she didn't take long to reach me. Her hand rested upon my shoulder with little pressure, as she tried to get my attention.

"Do you mind just talking about it to me, at least?" She asked, the sincerity in her voice wasn't easy to say no to. I shrugged off her hand, not giving her a glance.

"I said leave me alone, Kass. I'm fine, really." I stated, increasing my pace ever so slightly to try and make a point of walking away from her, even though all it did was put a noticeable strain in my calf muscles. She kept pace more than easily enough.

"Do you want to go down to the range? It helped me when I was upset, when you made me go down there, despite all my protesting." She prodded, leaning her head in front of me to try and get my attention again. "I'll sit there in silence if you don't want to do anything else, Zero. I just want to be with you and make sure you're okay."

I stared at her pleading red eyes, glistening under the overhead fluorescent lights. I felt a tingling wave run through my body, and my lips refused to ask for her absence for a third time. I just couldn't say no to her, it's not like I didn't necessarily want her presence, it was more for the best that I was left alone. But I couldn't force her not to. And the gun range sounded like a good idea, at the very least.

"Fine."

"Thank you, Zero," She gave a slight smile, returning to moving beside me, not another word uttered. We strolled down the corridors, down the elevators, either walking or standing side by side in complete silence, with no contact. I think it helped, just having someone else there that did nothing else but stay with me, it was reassuring. We reached the firing range, completely empty of anyone else, thankfully. I watched as Kassara did as she promised, moving into the corner of the room, and coiling in on herself, resting, as she watched my with her crimson eyes. I grabbed a magnetic shotgun, a shard gun as everyone else called it. I hadn't really fired one before, but I felt enough anger that I felt like it may provide the punch I needed to feel at least a little bit of catharsis. All I could think about was Goblin, his blind hatred for Kassara. It seemed ridiculous for him to hold such a grudge against her when she has done nothing but help X-Com, but that was exactly what I meant by his blind hatred; it was completely out of ignorance. I used to understand him, I used to know how he thought, he was a close friend to me. But that was before we captured Kassara. We've only grown further and further apart since. Even when Kassara was still part of X-Com, he still felt like a fellow soldier who would put his life on the line for me. But now, I can only doubt that statement, I sincerely don't know if he would still do everything he could. All I felt was his anger towards Kassara, and anybody who stood between him and her, therefore, received similar treatment.

It was just that I knew him as a friend, I thought maybe something was rescuable. But I don't know how wrong I was with that. At least with Elena I was surer it was a lost case, and even she came more around to liking Kassara than she did initially, even if it ended up backfiring on me due to the secrets we kept. I think Kassara had earned her respect, to some degree. Respect was just something you needed to earn with Elena, rather than it being given initially. But I thought I had Goblin's respect, I thought he at least understood how I felt, but all he did was dismiss it as a trick that Kassara was playing on me.

I fired round after round, the target long since obliterated, as shard after shard flew down the range, peppering the remaining stump and the metal wall behind with the slug and its fragments, sparking as they skimmed off the surface and onto the floor. I don't know how much better it made me feel, but it was doing something, just feeling the power of the gun kicking against me each time I fired. I had fired so many clips that I almost forgot Kassara was just sat behind me, waiting in silence as she looked on at me. I caught her out of the corner of me eye, bringing me back from the flinging tirade in my mind, bringing me back from all the anger I felt towards Goblin. I set my gun down on the bench, and plodded over to one of the seats next to her. She remained still, her eyes tracing my moves until I sat down. About twenty minutes must have passed since I first got in here, so she had been waiting a fair amount of time just to wait for me to cool off a little bit.

"Feeling a bit better?" She asked, breaking her vow of silence now that I finished.

"Well, sort of," I shrugged, leaning back and relaxing into my chair. "I give up. There's nothing I can do to change his mind. Echo was right."

"Don't say that," She tried to reassure. "There is always something that can change that. You changed my mind about X-Com after all. Mostly that was you, anyway."

"No, she's very right. Goblin is stubborn. It's not anything I can do to change that, because it's up to him to stop being ignorant or holding onto whatever preconception he has about you." I sighed. Some people just don't want to listen to others, and see any challenge to their opinion as an argument, and nothing else. It felt like Goblin was one of these people, nothing Kassara did, nothing I said, would ever change his ignorance when it came to Aliens. It was laughable to me to say X-Com only fought for humans, when we had made alliances with two resistance factions, one consisting almost purely of Aliens, and the other of ex-Advent soldiers, which were clones nonetheless. But he didn't see this. I don't know what he saw though.

"Well, thank you for trying, Zero. Seriously, I was a little smitten when I realized you were trying to defend me to him. But you did not need to, you shouldn't put yourself in the way of harm for the sake of me, that would defeat the point you were trying to make that I wouldn't get anyone hurt." She consoled, playfully teasing me with a smirk that left me without words for a few seconds.

"Haha, when you put it that way," I laughed it off, running my hand through my hair. I felt her place her hand on the top of my leg, just above my knee, her claws resting against the fabric of the tracksuits I was wearing. I rested my hand on hers, running it slowly over her scales. "But I want to be there for you. Like you have for me."

"You are here now." She smiled, uncoiling from where she had made her temporary nest, standing in front of me, towering over me with her height. "We are supposed to be there for each other. And you have been here for me. The entire time I have been on this ship, you have looked out for me in your own way." She reached for my other hand, so she was now holding both of my hands in hers, and gently pulled me up to my feet. She had coiled herself down slightly so that her eyes were level with mine, unblinking. "I don't think I need to go over all the times you reached out in your own way when I was a prisoner here. Keeping my actions which would have possibly got me killed a secret, just...Zero, you're the only person here who doesn't treat me differently for what I am. You mean a lot to me." She continued, finalizing her statement by releasing my hands and putting her arms around me, pulling me into a rather tight hug. I embraced her warmth, wrapping my arms around her waist in return, pulling her closer into me, our faces mere inches apart.

I didn't think twice about the action. I leaned forward quickly before she could react, and planted a kiss on her lips, soft, quick. I could feel my heart beating as I leaned in, I could feel my body shivering in the nervousness and excitement of the moment. While the kiss felt slightly odd because of the texture of kissing her scaled lips in comparison to a humans', but it was perfect in its own way. She jerked her head away, her eyes burning with surprise and curiosity, as I tried to rationalize what I had just done myself.

"Zero..."

"Sorry," I apologized quickly. "I just..."

"No, silly," She laughed to herself. She pulled me in closer with her arms, hugging me tightly as she rested her neck on my shoulder, bringing a new wave of warmth to me. I can't believe I had done what I had just done, all the fears of what might have happened coming stupidly in retrospect from the kiss, but it worked. I allowed myself to fall deeper into the hug, pulling her once again back into me, allowing myself to just be held in her embrace for just a little longer. "You really took me by surprise, I did not expect it."

"So it wasn't that weird?" I asked.

"A little. I've never been kissed before." She admitted, finally pulling away from me, her eyes dropping momentarily upon her admission. It didn't surprise me, from what she had told me of her life, being a solitary guard expected to do your job and nothing else. I found her hands with mine, holding them between us and giving her a reassuring squeeze. I know it was small, but it felt like everything had changed with just that one kiss, however small, however slight. It was the admission to each other that we truly, truly did like each other in that way. And where I once saw an Alien manufactured to be an enemy of humanity, I now saw a beautiful person, an ally, a confidant. A partner. I got an overwhelming urge to kiss her again, and I gave in to that most basic desire. I dropped one of my hands from hers, and raised it to cradle her cheek, feeling her push slightly against me. I leaned in and planted my lips on hers once more, though this time much more drawn out as I pressed into her, feeling the electric sensations across my body. My hand fell back from her face, finding her spare hand once again as our lips separated.

"Well, now you've been kissed twice," I annotated, finally pulling away. She just stared back with her marvelous features, her mouth slightly agape trying to find words to respond with. "Still weird?" I continued teasingly. I watched her face settle into one of silent admiration.

"Not as weird, certainly not." She sighed to herself, looking down at our hands, squeezing them as she refocused her gaze back onto me. "I kind of like it. In a weird way." She grinned. I paused, just taking her in, she was just beautiful to me.

"Well...thank you, for being here. I'm feeling much better, now." I said, breaking myself away from my trance, breaking the silence beginning to form between us.

"Because of the shooting, or the kiss?" She asked, her eyes teasing me alongside her words.

"Both?" I guessed with a shrug. "Both." I repeated, more resolutely this time. She smiled sincerely at me, letting my hands go, her fingers slipping in between mine as we disengaged.

"I am glad, Zero. Go eat some lunch, I'll see you later." She finished, leaning in once more and pressing her lips to my cheek. Again, it only felt weird due to her inability to purse the rigid scales that formed her lips, but it was still a nice sensation otherwise, and the meaning behind it only made it better. She turned tail, heading out of the doors and leaving me on my own, glancing over her shoulder as she left. As soon as the doors closed, I collapsed back into my chair, letting out a long sigh of relief, the tension building up in my body slowly releasing. She plagued my mind, her face, her figure, all of her, even after she had left the room. I found my mind wandering back to months ago, to our two notable 'incidents', the ones I had kept under lock and key. It was easy to crave in retrospect, but the kisses, the hugs only left me wanting more, more of her. I chuckled at the incredulity of it all, of wanting to seriously be with an Alien in that way. Oh, how past me would react if he knew what was going to happen. I turned back to the firing range, pulling a sniper rifle from the wall and returned to the longer of the ranges. But my heart was still pumping too fast from the thrill of my first kiss with Kassara that I could barely steady myself enough to aim the weapon on the target long enough to fire.

Instead, I put my weapon back down on the bench, and brought the recesses of my mind to the forefront, succumbing to the fantasies I should be pushing back, allowing myself to imagine what could have been, and what maybe will be, with the elegant allure that I found myself 'dating', as such. Everything felt so wrong, so foreign, on the basis of it not being a human. How strange and unbecoming any act would be, and just how much better that made it seem in my mind. I put the weapon back away, just trying to regulate my haywire emotions more successfully, before heading back to get some food before lunch finished.

* * *

 _AN: I fully understand it has been a considerably long time since my last release, in comparison to my normal upload schedule. Thank you all for your patience, I want to remind that I am continuing to work on this, and will give prior warning if anything changes to this. It's just been going very slow recently, it's not that I've stopped writing. I hope you understand!_

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